Camaraderie
by truemizzie
Summary: Alice's life before she was a Longbottom.
1. Alice Ashby

Title: Camaraderie

Summary: Alice's life before she was a Longbottom.

Rating: PG (will become PG-13)

Author's Notes: I've always been intrigues by Alice, and wanted to know the truth about her. Was she friends with who we would expect her to be friends with? Was she a lot like her son? Was she powerful? Was she quiet? Was she kind? And, if she's Pureblood, isn't the likelihood of her being related to the Black family ridiculously high? So, this story begs the question: who was Alice Longbottom, really?

* * *

Camaraderie

A sixteen year old, round faced girl sat in a classroom, alone. She folded her hands together as she glanced around the room, waiting for the Professor to re-enter and give her the lecture she knew was coming. The room was filled with posters made by other students for a very unique project for their English class. Hers was the most beautiful of them, depicting and explaining the story of Zeus, a Greek God they had been learning about. She did not care that she had received the best grade on the project, nor that hers was even given a place of honour in the center of all the posters. She only cared that she was currently being prevented from going back home, all for a situation that she couldn't fully explain to her teacher without getting into any real trouble. She knew what she would have to do, but had decided to try an alternative way, for she was too tired for the plan her parents had suggested to her. Finally, her teacher entered the room.

"Alice," she said as she sat down opposite her, each now facing the teacher's desk.

"Professor Rawlins," Alice replied, a little hesitantly.

"Do you know why I'd like to speak with you?" Professor Rawlins asked her, in the somewhat tough way that teachers often used.

"Not fully, Ma'am," Alice lied, "Unless it really is because I've been sick."

"Well…in a way…that is exactly it."

"Am I in trouble for it?"

"Not exactly, dear, I'd just like to…I'd just like to ask you a few questions."

Alice prevented herself from letting out a heaving sigh as she politely straightened up, now resting her joined hands onto the desk in front of her. She decided to continue lying for a while, just in case it ended up working, but knew she would have to stop is her Professor began to ask too many questions. It didn't matter much: Alice had learned to lie at a very young age, and was very good at creating stories that were so elaborate that they almost had to be true. Of course, most of the time, they weren't. She looked up, giving Rawlins permission to ask her questions.

"Well…the first thing I'd like to know is…what were you sick with yesterday?"

"I wasn't feeling well…I had a bit of a fever, and didn't want to chance coming to school."

"But…Alice…did your parents know about this?"

"Yes Ma'am. In fact, they encouraged my not coming."

"Have your parents ever given thought to the idea of you…boarding with the other girls?"

Alice looked down, hiding her eyes. "Well…they have…but we don't have enough money to afford boarding. Besides, we live so close to the school that it doesn't matter much. They just need to drive me in." Her teacher sighed, tilting her head a little to the side. Her expression was one that was quite serious, but also calm.

"Alice, you do realize how much school you have been missing this year, yes?"

"Oh, of course I do. But it's alright…I take all my assignments home, or have somebody bring them to me. You know that I've never missed a due date."

"Who takes them home to you?"

"Why…my friends."

Rawlins frowned. "Alice, that was one thing I wanted to speak with you about. Now…I'm afraid…that you don't seem to have many friends."

"Well, I don't really have much time for many friends. Still, I've made a fair amount of acquaintances. They're always very nice and helpful about what I've missed."

"Yes, and you always get your homework done. Impressive, considering that you seem to hardly ever be at home. When people ask you where you go at nights, you tell them that are out somewhere, and that's why you could not visit with them. So, Alice, where do you so often go to?"

Alice lifted her head, brave enough for her next lie. "Well, my parents take me out a lot. We go and visit our family. That's another reason I don't board with the girls - when you're boarding, you can only go so far away from the school, and some of our relatives are quite far out.

"And you can visit them and return in only one afternoon?"

"Well, we usually come home quite late."

"Alice, I don't believe you."

Alice frowned. She had hoped that her lies would work in preventing what she usually did when teachers began to figure out that she was not, in any way, a regular young girl. Still, this time, Alice was upset. She was tired of this: the lying, the wasting of her energy, and she had tried to do things a different way. Perhaps she could, this time, gain someone's trust rather than creating it. Unfortunately, this hadn't worked.

"I know you don't, Professor. But please, you just don't understand-"

"I'd like you to tell me the truth…right now." She paused. "Alice-"

Alice stood up, stopping Professor Rawlins from continuing. Her teacher watched as she backed away from the desk and moved towards the door of the room. Rawlins did not object to Alice's actions until the student turned around and looked back at her, a sad look on her face.

"Obliviate."

* * *

"Alice, stop complaining and get your broomstick," Susan Ashby told her daughter as she walked down their steep staircase. "We need to get to Leeds by seven, and you've already made us late."

"Mum, you know that wasn't my fault-"

"That doesn't change anything. We're still going to be late, and on a full moon!"

Alice reluctantly approached the closet, taking out her own broom, which had been charmed by her father to look normal, but move incredibly swiftly. After retrieving the device, she reached for her invisibility cloak, draping over her shoulders for now. Closing the closet door, she found her mother in the basement, who was telling her father, John, that it was time to leave. Alice watched them from the top of the stairs, waiting. Her mother, noticing this, calmly making her way to Alice.

"Look, we've discussed this many times. We do not want you going to Hogwarts."

"But why not?" Alice's voice sounded soft, though hurt.

"There are people there…that aren't like us. That could harm you."

"Those people are our family-"

"-They are not!" Susan furrowed her brow angrily at this as John made his way up the stairs to join the two.

"What's this?" he asked, though Alice was sure he knew.

"I want to go to Hogwarts," she had said this many times before, although this time her tone was harsher than usual. John's faced became one of angry surprise, and he walked away, telling her simply:

"No. That will not happen."

"Why can't it? Why can't I learn-?"

"-We are teaching you everything you need to know-"

"But what can I do with it?" Alice followed her father annoyingly. "I need a certificate that says I've graduated. You need to go to school to be an Auror, and I'm going to that school!"

"We've sorted it out with the Ministry. You will get a certificate from our teachings. I will not have you at that school with those - those people," Susan told her, opening that back door. But by now Alice was very angry. She looked at the door, closing it, her mother shocked.

"There aren't all bad Purebloods there. The Potter boy is there - and two of the Weasley boys, along with two Prewitts. And- isn't there a Longbottom boy there, too?"

"As well as the Blacks."

"Sirius Black isn't one of the bad ones-"

"-The rest are."

"Well…I avoid them, then." Alice was back to speaking softly. Her father approached her.

"Look, Alice, those people will make you think that you are better than others, just because of your blood. Either that or they'll mock you for being a blood traitor." He sighed. "You know all this - being a witch doesn't mean that-"

"-I know!" she cried, exasperated. "It doesn't make me better than the muggles, but it still makes me a witch! I need a…a right education for that."

"You'd leave your friends here behind?" her mother asked.

"What friends?" Alice retorted. "The people here are nice, accepting, but they're not my friends. I'm not home long enough for them to be."

"But if you go to Hogwarts, you know that you still won't have much time-"

"-But at least I'll be able to talk to people. I don't want to lie to people anymore. Don't…perhaps the companionship will do me well."

Susan pointed at the door, opening it again. "We'll discuss this later." Alice followed her parents outside, flinging herself over her broomstick into the dark night.

* * *

"Padfoot…Padfoot, get _up!_" James Potter yelled at his friend, who was lying flat on his stomach in the guest bed of the Potter's home. Sirius Black squinted his eyes together, making his face look wrinkly and furrowed. Finally opening his eyes, he looked up at his friend, who looked ready to slap him. "Sirius (Sirius huffed at the use of his real name), you have about an hour to eat, pack and get dressed."

"In that order?" Sirius asked with a yawn, leaning forward to clutch his knees. James rolled his eyes, having already gotten dressed. James had a tendency to wake up before anybody else in the house and get ready within half an hour. Sirius joked that the only reason for it was to make him miserable, but was still thankful for the fact that he was able to stay in the Potter's home, not wanting to remain with his own family. He flung his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, reaching at the nearby dresser for a robe. James turned from him, making a jokingly rude gesture with his middle finger, and left the room.

After getting dressed and magicking all of his belongings into a large suitcase, Sirius marched down the stairs for breakfast with the Potters. He sat at the table across from James, who had waited to eat his food. Mrs. Potter poured Sirius some juice before sitting down, and he dug in, laughing with his friend about what would happen that year at school. It was, after all, their final year at Hogwarts.

"Remus, Frank and Peter are going to be in the third compartment," James handed Sirius a letter Remus had written them early that morning. Sirius read it quickly, noting the fact that their nicknames were used in this letter. He gave it back to James, who took it carefully, not wanting his parents to see those nicknames.

"They'd better not any of those girls in this year," he said as he chewed on a piece of bacon, Mrs. Potter eying him in a disgusted manner. "That Tilak girl is going to drive me completely insane one day."

"I've already had that pleasure," James sighed, remembering the Yule Ball, when he took Parvati Tilak on the loudest date of his life.

The boys continued chatting for the next twenty minutes, until Mr. Potter decided it best that they leave early if they want their compartment to not be filled with the seventh year Griffindor girls. The boys grabbed their suitcases and owls, and then ran downstairs to the fireplace, where they Floo-ed to the Platform.

* * *

Five boys sat in a small compartment on the Hogwarts Express: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Frank Longbottom. The boys waited patiently for the ride to begin, all of them having reached the Platform quite early, excited for the beginning of their final year at Hogwarts. They talked excitedly about the happenings of their summers and what sorts of havoc they would reek at the school before their graduation, many of their plans involving Slytherin, Severus Snape.

"For all we know," Remus warned, "We'll barely see him this year. We hardly did last year," Remus referred to their separated classes.

"Yeah, but we can't just let him get on our nerves without a bit of a fight," James replied, laughing loudly. Remus smiles, and then glanced at the window of the compartment door. A girl seemed to be looking inside the compartment carefully, as if she was scouting for a place to sit. Sirius, who was next to the sliding door, opened it. Now, all five boys could clearly see this girl, but only for a short time. She was short, with a rounded face that was framed by curly, reddish brown hair. Her frame was fairly slim, but not terribly so, and her eyes were brown.

"Oh…I'm sorry. Excuse me," she whispered nervously, and walked away quickly. Peter bent around the doorway to watch her leave. He looked back at the others after closing the door.

"She can't be a first year?" he questioned, and they all shook their heads.

"I've never seen her though…that's strange," Remus decided. "What house do you suppose she's in?"

"I have no idea…not ours, at least," Frank said. "At least I know that."

"Funny…" Remus trailed off, and then turned to face the group as the train began to move. "I hope she finds a seat." He continued: "None of you know her?"

"I think I've seen her around, you know that? She's probably just a Ravenclaw bookworm or something." Sirius shrugged.

"It's too bad she didn't sit here," James joked. "She didn't seem quite as annoying as the rest of them."

"Oh, don't be so coy," Sirius kicked James, "You know you're just waiting for Lily Evans to plop herself down on your lap."

"Oh, not this again, Padfoot!"

The boys fought over whether or not Lily would ever go out with James for the duration of the ride.

* * *

Every year, before the big feast, the new first years were sorted into their respective houses. The five Griffindor boys sat together at the Griffindor table, cheering as ten new students (or as Sirius called them, victims) were added to their house. When all forty new students were sorted, they all began talking, expecting piles of food to magically appear on their tables. However, this did not happen. Instead, Dumbledore stood up at the Head Table. Remus noticed that Professor McGonagall had stood, most likely to retrieve something, but Remus questioned exactly what. Dumbledore spoke:

"To finish our Sorting Ceremony, we have a fairly interesting case. This young girl will be entering Hogwarts to attend her seventh year classes," he motioned towards McGonagall, who had entered, a girl following behind her nervously, but swiftly. The Griffindor boys immediately recognized her as the girl they had seen on the train. Whispering began, but Dumbledore quickly silenced it when he continued speaking. "Alice Ashby will now be sorted."

The whispers began again as Alice Ashby was led onto the small platform containing nothing but a chair and a Hat.

"She's just here for one year?"

"That's not fair!"

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"Maybe she's a transfer from another school…"

"She doesn't _look_ French."

"Well, that explains why we didn't know her," James looked to his friends, who nodded.

Alice sat down softly and allowed Professor McGonagall to lightly place the Sorting Hat on her head. For some reason, this process was taking longer than it had for the previous first year students. Alice had a very still look on her face as the Hat seemed to speak silently to her. Finally, after grumbling something out loud that nobody in the Great Hall could comprehend, the Hat shouted:

"GRIFFINDOR!"

The Griffindor table exploding with cheering and applause as Alice approached it, appearing to not know exactly where she should sit. Lily Evans, whose room mates and her sat with James Potter and his friends now that they had all come to a truce, motioned her over to sit with them. Alice obediently did so, taking a seat between Lily and Holly Fergus, an Irish brunette. After listening to Dumbledore's quick announcements, the group turned to find a beautiful arrangement of food on their table. Lily wasted no time in introducing herself.

"My name is Lily Evans, and this is Holly Fergus-" Holly smiled, "-Parvati Tilak-" a dark skinned girl giggled brightly from across the table, "-and Elsbeth Towler," a girl with dark hair and glasses waved from the other side of Lily."

Alice grinned shyly. "Hey," she said shrugging a little, making them all laugh.

"That's alright - you'll learn our names soon enough, I'm sure."

"Alright," Alice nodded, still seeming content. James Potter, noting the new silence, swallowed his food to speak.

"I notice that you didn't bother introducing us men, Ms. Evans." Lily rolled her eyes.

"I notice that you lot can hardly be considered 'men.'"

"Perhaps I can prove it to you on the next Hogsmeade trip-"

"-And perhaps we won't have to hear about it," Remus cut in, changing the subject effectively. He turned to Alice pointing to each boy as he announced them. "I'm Remus Lupin; this is James Potter, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and Frank Longbottom." Alice smiled at the boys politely.

"James and I are Head Boy and Girl this year," Lily told Alice, "So if need anything - like, need to know where something is or something - you can just ask us." Alice nodded. "Actually," Lily decided, looking at James, who was trying to set his place to look like Sirius' face, "Maybe you should just stick to asking me.

Alice laughed softly. Soon, Lily and James began fighting over who would do better in their Potions class that year. Alice simply watched the group, entertained by their antics, and surprised by how social they being with her. She knew that she must have seemed quite odd by their standards - her hardly speaking - but they seemed to enjoy her company well enough, and even tried to get her to speak more. It was one of the happiest Dinners Alice had ever had.

* * *

The students were sent to bed, classes starting only the next day. As the Griffindor girls were going up the steps to their dorms, Professor McGonagall stopped Alice to take her aside.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has spoken to you, I presume?" she asked Alice, who nodded.

"Yes, Professor," she said, "I'll be out soon enough…I'll just get my things set up upstairs first, if that's alright with you?"

"Of course, take your time," McGonagall smiled at Alice. "You know where I'll be?"

"Yes."

Alice the followed the girls - who had not noticed the conversation - up the stairs. Upon entering, Alice saw that all of her things had already been set out for her by the House Elves. The girls got ready very quickly and said goodnight to her, Lily telling her how excited she should be for classes the next day. Alice, not wanting to leave with them awake, waited until the rest of the girls were asleep before she left the dorm. Little did she know as she put on her warmest robe that Lily had woken up, and had followed her down the stairs to watch her leave through the all too agreeable Fat Lady. She decided not to dwell on it, and that Alice probably just had something important to do - perhaps a meeting about her classes.

Still, she would not forget to ask about the situation the next day…just in case.


	2. The Truth

Camaraderie

Lily awoke to a rather painful headache. She opened her eyes to find Alice, already awake, putting on her school robes. Alice glanced at her, a little curiously, but continued buttoning up her cloak. Lily sat up into a crossed legged position. She looked across the room at a large round clock on the wall. It was nearly seven AM. "You wake up early," Lily sighed, leaning her back against the wall beside her bed, legs still crossed. Alice simply smiled.

"Force of habit, I guess."

Lily raised an eyebrow, and then she placed a hand on her forehead. She suddenly realized that her headache was gone.

"Headache?" Alice inquired, finally finishing with her cloak. Lily frowned, feeling strange.

"Not anymore." She drew in a deep breath and pushed her legs out in front of her. She was now sitting at the edge of the bed, willing herself to stand. "Well, I might as well get up now, then." She pushed herself up off of the mattress and approached her dresser, looking through it for her skirt.

"Sorry…I'll try to be quieter tomorrow," Alice told her apologetically, now brushing her hair back into a ponytail.

"No…" Lily shook her head, now searching for her socks, "It wasn't you. You're like a mouse. My head just woke me-" Lily laughed, "-my head_ache_ just woke me up. It seems like I just dreamed it or something."

"Maybe," Alice agreed. Lily couldn't help but feel as if Alice was a little skeptical of her assumption, but didn't dwell on it. Instead, she remembered the night before.

"You went out last night." Alice's head whipped around at a speed that surprised Lily. However, she did not look surprised. Only worried.

"You were awake?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Lily yawned. "Where'd you go?"

Alice shrugged. "I just…went out, really." Her face calmed.

"Out where?" Now Lily was suspicious. "The Fat Lady let you out." Alice pursed her lips, thinking about what to say. Lily couldn't help but notice that her own heart seemed to leap for a moment, nervously, and she almost felt as if she should reach for her wand. The moment ending, she simply moved a little closer to Alice, who breathed in and out loudly.

"Fine…I wanted to ask…that Professor McGonagall…if I could get out of my Defense Against the Dark Arts class."

Lily sighed, relieved. "And did you find her?"

"Yes," Alice nodded. "I found her. But she didn't let me out of it."

"Why not?"

"Who knows," Alice said, shrugging again. It wasn't exactly a lie…she had asked that of Professor McGonagall, and she had been denied. The circumstances, however, had been different. She looked at Lily, who seemed to be glancing around at the other three girls. Her face became quite mischievous.

"You know…" she began, a little evilly, "Since we're up…and it's not exactly fair that they get to sleep in…?" She grinned at Alice, who looked curious, but soon understood. The girls spent the next five minutes screaming at each other to wake up. Alice was the quietest, but she couldn't help but enjoy the game.

* * *

"Moony…?" Sirius groaned, waking to the sounds of a considerably loud cuckoo clock. 

"Yeah…?" Remus awoke, opening his eyes, but closing them immediately at the light.

"What time is it…?"

Remus moaned, but opened his eyes again after rubbing them harshly. He looked up at the clock. "It's eight-fifteen," he told the occupants of the room, who were now only pretending to still be asleep. James was the first of them to speak:

"Class starts at nine. Let's go grab some food."

The boys all got up at different times, some of them trying to get in one or two more minutes of silent relaxation, but then realizing that that would be impossible. Frank was the first to seem fully awake, rubbing his short hair quickly to neaten it. Sirius was the fastest dresser, needing to spend more time on his own, much longer hair. James was the messiest, pulling his pre-buttoned robes over his head violently. Peter simply wobbled around, looking lazily through the drawers for his own clothing. Remus was the neatest, but still took a while to completely wake up.

"Full moon on Wednesday," James stated, in a matter-of-fact tone. Frank glanced at him, a slightly glaring look in his eyes, but did not reply. Remus nodded nervously, a sign that he had heard James, but was not very happy with what he had heard.

The year before, the four boys had gotten together to tell Frank everything he had not known about Remus before. Frank hadn't taken it too well, his family being very outspoken about werewolves, but had grown to realize that Remus was not only a dark creature. Still, things had been awkward between the boys for some time, until Frank had helped then out of a particularly difficult situation involving a very intricate mistake they had made while sneaking out to the Whomping Willow. Now Frank only seemed to be jealous of their Animagus abilities. Still, Frank had never been a Marauder. He spent time with his fellow Griffindors, studied with them, ate with them and generally enjoyed their company, but he still spent most of his time at Hogwarts with Bilius Weasley and Arthur Lovegood, both Ravenclaws.

The boys, after completing their morning rituals, all began to look around at each other. Things felt odd today for some reason. It was the first day of school, but also the last year. It was the last first day, and they all seemed to have realized it. None of them admitted to this feeling.

"Breakfast?" Remus offered, trying to take their minds off of what they were all thinking. The boys nodded and followed him out of the room and down to the Great Hall, where they instantly found the five seventh year girls sitting before empty plates.

"On a diet, Evans?" James asked Lily, who placed her plate on top of a small pile that had been created.

"As a matter of fact, Potter, I've already finished my breakfast. You're the one who might need to go on a diet, if you decide to be even later for breakfast tomorrow." James swiftly took a place beside Lily, who rolled her eyes at the gesture. The rest of the boys took seats among the girls, Sirius and Remus sitting on either side of Alice, who looked entirely uncomfortable in their company.

"So," Sirius began speaking to Alice as he began filling his own plate, "how was your first night at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" Alice watched as Sirius piled food atop his pancakes, seeming taken aback at his ability to eat so much.

"It was...nice," she replied, still watching him.

"For you, maybe," Parvati whined, _"You_ weren't the one to get mauled this morning." Peter laughed loudly.

"Sorry?"

_"These two,"_ Holly motioned to Lily and Alice, "decided that it would be funny to wake all of us up at seven o'clock in the morning." Lily and Alice shared a glance across from each other. Alice gave a quick thought to why they were staying at the table when they had all finished their food, but quickly realized that it was merely for social reasons.

"Oh, it's better than missing our first class," Lily nudged Holly, who simply groaned. James laughed.

"Well, if Lily had woken _me_ up-"

"-Which will never happen-" Lily interjected.

"-Maybe, but if she _did,_ I wouldn't waste any time in following the instructions."

"So long as I woke you up after two in the afternoon," Lily rolled her eyes. "You know that all of you lot could sleep in all day without any effort at all."

"Hardly a crime," Frank said with a laugh. He then saw his two Ravenclaw friends entering the Great Hall and waved at them. He picked up his plate and said a quick goodbye to the table, who smiled at him as he left, to join the Ravenclaw one. Alice watched him with particular curiosity.

"Isn't he a Griffindor?" she asked.

"Yes, but he's really a Ravenclaw at heart," Elsbeth told her. Alice nodded. There was a long silence at the table as the girls watched the boys eat, their faces twisted in complete disgust. Finally, Sirius broke the silence.

"So, Alice - do you mind if I call you Alice?" Alice glanced at him, not quite understanding the humour. Lily giggled as she shook her head from across the table, an action which told her that it had not been a very good joke to begin with. Sirius continued, not losing any of his good humour. "How'd you manage to be allowed to start Hogwarts in your seventh year?" Alice's head tilted a bit to the side, seeming confused. Sirius caught on. "What I mean is: did they give you a summer course in magic or something?" Alice's eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm sorry…?" Sirius wasted no time in continuing.

"Well, with you being a muggleborn and all-"

"I'm sorry?" Alice said again, this time quicker.

"It means that your parents aren't wizards," Sirius told her swiftly.

"Oh...no...I know what it is…" Alice said softly. Sirius raised an eyebrow, about to speak, but Remus nudged him. "I mean...I'm not muggleborn," she told him.

"Well, even if you're half-blood, then-"

"No," she interjected, still very shyly. Everybody stopped their own conversations to listen to Alice. "I'm pureblooded." Sirius looked as if he could have spit out his drink, had he have drunk anything.

"Really?" he asked, soon realizing the stupidity of the inquiry. Alice nodded.

"So," Remus attempted to change the subject, "Did you go to another school before Hogwarts?"

Alice shook her head. "My parents...they tutored me," she told him, and before anybody could ask any more questions, Alice stood up. "I have to go meet Professor Flitwick before my Charms class…I guess I'll be seeing all of you there." The group smiled at her, and Lily yelled a quick goodbye after her as she left.

"She's really nice," James stated as he watched her leave the Great Hall. "Shyest kid I've ever met, but still really nice, I guess."

"She hates me," Sirius complained.

"Of course she doesn't," Lily told him.

"Well, if she didn't before, she does now," Remus said. "All that about Blood."

"Hey, I only assumed," Sirius retorted. "I didn't think it would offend her!"

"I'm not sure that it did, actually," Remus suggested. "She didn't seem offended. Just…upset."

"I wonder why," Peter asked the question they were all thinking. Soon the girls left, and the boys spent the remainder of the meal chatting about who they were going to court this year.

* * *

"The Patronus Charm," Professor Flitwick was telling the class (which consisted of Griffindors and Slytherins), "Is very difficult for most wizards. Now, you have all learned the incantation that goes with it last year, but I expect that none of you have attempted the Charm. Now, feel free to practice it now, unless, of course," he glanced pointedly at Remus, who was chuckling at something Sirius had whispered into his ear, "You have forgotten how to perform the Charm?" 

"Of course not, Sir," Remus answered as a true Prefect. Flitwick frowned, but continued teaching nonetheless.

"Alright then, on with it. And keep in mind that the likelihood of any of you getting it today is very low, so don't be too disappointed if you have some trouble."

The class began, each student saying the incantation at various levels of noise. Remus and Lily were the only two who seemed to be having any success at all, some smoke leaving the ends of their wands. While he attempted the spell again (he was becoming quite tired now), Remus looked over at Alice, who did not seem to even be attempting the spell. She muttered the incantation, but seemed to refuse to allow anything to leave her wand. Within the next few moments, he saw Flitwick approach Alice and ask her something that Remus couldn't hear. She nodded, seeming surprisingly unhappy with whatever he had said. Flitwick stopped the lesson.

"I'd like to allow Ms. Ashby to try it." He seemed somewhat angry, perhaps because she had refused to try it along with everybody else. Alice glanced at her wand as if she wished that it would disappear at her seeing it. Unfortunately for her, this did not happen. She then looked at Professor Flitwick, whose face told her to continue soon. The entire class watched as Alice attempted the spell. She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts, and then pointed her wand in an upwards direction.

"Expecto patronum," she said, in a quiet tone that surprised everyone. The other surprise was that, even with her apparent lack of effort, a figure began to whirl out of her wand. It was silver, and really quite beautiful, with the clear shape of a Phoenix. The Phoenix lingered for a while, and then rose up to the sky with a cry, dissolving into the air. The class could do nothing but applaud as Flitwick's mood rose considerably.

* * *

The day's classes had all ended, and the seventh year Griffindors were all back in the Common Room, where Lily and James bantered off of each other. The rest of the room simply talked about the day's events and the surprising amount of homework they had received on the first day. At a nearby table, Alice Ashby was writing on a piece of parchment, yet seemed to be nearly done her homework. The rest of the class had barely begun. Writing her name, she finished her final assignment, and began rolling it up. Before she could stand, though, James took his attention off of Lily and began speaking to her. Of course, all of the seventh year Griffindors decided to listen in, too. 

"Alice," he called. She froze, but still turned around to face him. She did not speak, telling him to continue. "How'd you manage to come up with a real Patronus today?" Alice did not seem to know what to say for a moment, but after a blink, she did.

"My parents taught me a little while ago. I practice it a lot."

"Still…you must be pretty powerful. Not many people can make a-what's the word, Lily? A carpool-"

"Corporeal, Potter."

"Yeah, a Coropialey Patronus." Alice grinned a bit, amused, and shrugged.

"It's not power. It's just practice. I just…practice…" she bit her lip. "Today, when I was talking to Professor Flitwick, he asked me if I could do one. I told him I could. Wish I hadn't, really."

"Why would he ask you if you could do one?" Frank looked at her curiously.

"He just wanted to know-"

"Well, yeah, but what would make him think that you could?"

"He didn't know what my parents taught me," Alice answered.

"So you were really home schooled…in magic?" Peter asked her. Alice nodded. She would have left if Remus hadn't looked as if he was about to ask her something, and if everybody wasn't watching him for the question.

"What did they say your last name was again?" Alice sighed.

"Ashby."

"I thought so," Remus said. Suddenly, Lily perked up, as if finally understanding something.

"Of course!" she shrieked, surprising everybody. "Remus, you're a genius!"

"What is this, Ms. Evans?" James turned to her, almost seeming genuinely curious. She stood up and approached Alice.

"Were your parents…_the_ Ashbys?" Alice nodded reluctantly, not smiling. "The ones who helped Dumbledore when he defeated Grindewald?" Again, Alice nodded. "That's fantastic! Oh, then we've all heard of _you,_ too!" James marveled.

"Lily, what on earth has made you become so insane?" Lily smirked at him.

_"Her parents_ are the most powerful witch and wizard of this entire century. According to the story, by the time she's-"

"Lily-" Alice pleaded.

"Twenty, she will have the power of both of them - _combined!"_ By now, Alice was completely embarrassed. Remus was the only one who seemed to notice this.

"Lily, you know that those books in the library aren't always completely right. I mean, I'm sure she _would_ be powerful-"

"But Remus," Lily reminded him, "we learned about her in History of Magic class, too." By now Alice was completely red, but had no power to stop what was going on. The rest of the seventh years were only listening to Lily and Remus, wondering which of the two perfect students was correct.

"Binns never said anything about her being super powerful."

"Well then, let's ask her! Alice?" Alice froze, not knowing what to do or say. "Alice?" Lily said, a little softer this time.

"Maybe we should just leave her alone, Lily," Holly suggested. Alice let out a breath, relieved.

"Besides, _I've_ never heard of her!" Sirius joked, trying to calm Alice. However, at this, Alice finally spoke.

"You're actually the one that would..." she told him, leaving the other seventh years completely confused. Lily listened closely. "You should…recognize the name, at least. Your father is not exactly a fan of our family." Sirius thought hard.

"So…no. You're right. You're…?"

"Yeah."

"But…your name…it's not there anymore?"

"It wouldn't be, would it? We're blood traitors."

"But there's no sign of them being taken off."

"There shouldn't be. My parents…they did it themselves. A bit neater magic. To make it as if we were never there at all." Everybody watched the two as they spoke to each other, wishing they had any idea of what they were talking about.

"So…what does that make us?" Sirius asked.

"That makes us nothing…I'm - quite literally - your cousins' cousin. By marriage." Sirius couldn't help but laugh, and Alice smiled a bit also. However, her smile quickly faded. "We really wanted to take you in, Sirius, after we heard about you leaving. But my father trusts the Potters," she looked at James, who still didn't quite understand. "Besides, with them you could still go to Hogwarts."

"So...you two are family?" Elsbeth asked nosily. Sirius only nodded, still seeming flabbergasted.

"Why couldn't he go with you? You seem to have gotten here fine," Peter stated.

"I had to force my parents to let me come. They were…resistant. They didn't want me becoming friends with any bad sorts." Sirius nodded, knowing she was referring to bigoted Purebloods, leaving the rest of the room in total ignorance. "None of us have had much contact with the Wizarding World in ages. Only if they need our help or something - which is often, but it's usually smaller things."

"What kind of things?" Elsbeth asked, leaning forward. Alice shrugged, a gesture which surprised all of them.

"Dark creatures…vampires, giants, werewolves…" Sirius and Remus exchanged a quick glance, which Sirius was sure Alice noticed, but hoped she did not know what it had meant. She didn't dwell on it, making him believe that she didn't suspect them.

"Do you go with them?" Parvati asked her. Alice nodded.

"They take me along a lot…but I don't usually get to do anything. I just watch. It's how they teach me."

"So, that's obviously why you can make a Patronus," Remus nodded, understanding.

"So…have you ever battled a werewolf?" Peter asked. Alice smiled a little.

"Actually, yes. It was giving my parents some trouble…so I had to attack it. It was a few years ago…I wasn't very smart, so I tried to use a Patronus against it-" there was some nervous laughter, "-but it did scare the werewolf enough for my parents to stun it."

"What did you do to it, afterwards?" Frank asked. He, too, glanced quickly at Remus, who looked pale, but was being careful not to seem too worried.

"Nothing violent, if that's what you mean," Alice told him carefully. She, noticing that Remus did seem a bit pale, glanced at him curiously, but quickly enough that none of the boys worried. "We couldn't take him to the hospital in the form he was in, so we just waited for him to transform back into a human. We knew that St. Mungo's probably still wouldn't take him. We healed him ourselves, and my father spoke to him about making a sort of safe haven for himself for his transformations. A cellar, or something or that sort. He hadn't been a werewolf for that long, and didn't know." There was more silence, until Remus spoke:

"So…you helped a werewolf?"

"No, we helped a naïve teenager," Alice said. It was the strongest thing she had said since entering Hogwarts. "He lived alone, though, after his parents disowned him. It was a really sad story."

"But…you…you must have cared, right? That he was a werewolf?" Alice smiled.

"That was one of our biggest problems with the Black family. Sirius' father hated werewolves, didn't want them to have any rights. My parents disagreed entirely."

"Wow," Remus whispered as Alice looked away, a little embarrassed. He suddenly felt a pain in his forehead, almost like a sudden headache. His hand clapped against his face, making Sirius watch him curiously. Suddenly, it stopped.

"So…where were you last night_, really?"_ Lily finally asked. Alice sighed and sat down in the nearest empty chair.

"Filch seems to think that there are Animagus running around the grounds. He says that his cat always gets nervous around the full moon, and was running around with a particularly friendly dog once. McGonagall asked me if I could check the reality of his belief." The last three Marauders all became a bit quieter, but James got up the courage to speak.

"Did you find any?" he asked.

"I think there should be at least one…probably more."

"How would you know?" Parvati asked. None of the girls knew about the boys' transformations, or about Remus being a werewolf.

"I can…" Alice stopped, her smile fading.

"You can sense it, can't you?" Lily asked her. Remus groaned.

"Lily-"

"Well, if it's true!"

Alice shook her head. "No…she's right. I can."

"That's insane," Frank marveled, and Alice grinned. However, there was something that was still a little bit sad about her smile.

"Well, it's about all I_ can_ do, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" Remus asked her, seeming empathetic.

"Never mind." Alice shrugged. "Anyways, now I really do need to go upstairs and put this stuff away. I'm meeting McGonagall again tonight, to get ready for Wednesday."

"What happens on Wednesday?" Lily asked.

"It's the full moon on Wednesday.." She left, walking up the stairs quietly. She turned back before going out of sight. "Um…excuse me…" she got their attention again, nervously waving her hand. "Don't tell anybody else. Please."

* * *

"That's insane. She can probably do _everything!" _Peter said, amazed at what they had all heard in the Common Room. The boys were sitting on their beds, refusing to actually fall asleep. Remus looked particularly unhappy. 

"I doubt it. I mean, _nobody_ can do _everything,_ can they?" Frank asked Remus, who simply shrugged.

"What's up, Moony?" Sirius asked him. Remus leaned his back against the wall.

"She said she'd be patrolling on Wednesday."

"Yeah, so?" James asked, cracking his fingers.

"That means you guys…you guys can't go out on Wednesday."

The realization hit them all like a branch off of the Whomping Willow.

* * *

Author's Notes: So, you learned a lot in that chapter, didn't you? Now, I know you're all probably wondering why I gave so much away in the second chapter, but that's because I have something much bigger and better planned for this story than what you just found out, although it will be incredibly important to know about Alice's powers from her parents. As far as the werewolf thing goes...well, you'll have to find out, now won't you?

Next Chapter: So, what's going to happen on Wednesday? Will Alice find the Marauders? Will she just suspect them? Will they chance going out at all? And finally, what _can't_ Alice do? Find out in the next installment of: Camaraderie


	3. Full Moon

Camaraderie

The next day, Alice seemed more detached from the rest of the seventh year Griffindors. She ate breakfast with them, but this time nearly refused to speak at all unless James begged a question about her nightly patrolling or something of that sort. Remus couldn't help but have the feeling that she was attempting to remove herself from the group due to the embarrassment of the night before. The others did not quite understand. While they knew she did not want it to be well known that her parents were so important to the Wizarding World, she had seemed fairly comfortable with them the previous night. Once again she left breakfast early - this time to speak with her History of Magic Professor.

"I don't know why she'd need to talk to him about it," James said as he watched her leave. "History of Magic has nothing to do with magic, really."

"Maybe she just wants to see if she's got the right materials," Lily suggested. She was being more polite to James this morning, Alice's silence seeming to have brought down the rest of the group.

The students collected their things and headed to their classes, excited to meet back in Potions class, which they were all taking. Potions was always Sirius' least favourite class. One, because it contained the Marauders' worst enemy, Severus Snape; and two, because it contained his snobby Pureblood cousin, Narcissa Black. Upon entering, Lily took a seat beside Alice, beginning a row of the Griffindor girls. On the other side of Alice, in the next table, Severus sat down. Peter was the first to notice this.

"Oy, d'you think that's really a good idea?" he asked Remus, who simply shrugged.

"Nah, she doesn't even know who he is."

The class continued without any real interruption, until Professor Slughorn decided to partner up the students for a small project. "Rosier, you go with Wilkes… Potter and Mr. Black, if you two'll behave… and why not Snape and Ashby… yes…" It was at this moment that all of the Griffindors swung their heads around to see Snape nodding to Alice as if to help her know who he was. The look on Snape's face was not a particularly happy one, but he also did not seem to mind being paired with Alice. Remus clapped his hand over James' mouth before he could complain, and the students went to work. To nobody's real surprise, Severus and Alice were the first to finish their potion, and Slughorn allowed them to leave the class early, satisfied with the results.

"That was lucky," Elsbeth told Lily after the pair had left.

"What do you mean?" Lily inquired, focusing on their potion.

"You know, that James didn't get too angry. He hates when Griffindors and Slytherins have to work together." 

"Well, James needs to grow up. He's Head Boy."

"I know…but still. I'm glad."

"Well, that's good, then…"

"You're okay with this, right?"

"Yeah…" Lily trailed off as she chopped up a leaf. Nearby, James was not being quite as polite as Elsbeth had assumed.

"I can't believe that," he told Sirius. "Poor girl, having to work with Snivellus."

"Come on, James…they barely spoke to each other," Remus sighed quietly from beside Peter. Frank was working with Arthur Lovegood on the other side of the classroom, the two seeming to also be discussing Alice and Snape.

"I know," James whined, "but I don't think they should work together. She's better than him." Sirius nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but at least she didn't get stuck with Narcissa," he whispered, Narcissa being fairly close-by. She did not seem to recognize Alice at all the entire class, a fact that Sirius was incredibly happy about.

"True…I wonder where Alice went."

"Probably back to the common room. James, stop being so worried. Inter-House unity, remember?" Remus reminded him.

"Well, Sniv's a special case."

-

Alice and Severus left the classroom quietly, happening to be going to the same way up the stairs. It seemed that they were each heading to the doors to go outside, where Alice wanted to read another chapter of her Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook. The two awkwardly remained beside each other, neither speaking. Alice did not understand the idea of Inter-House Rivalry, although she did know it existed due to some things James had said that morning. Finally, Severus spoke.

"Are you the _real_ Alice Ashby?" he asked her, his eyebrows furrowing into his hooked nose. She looked at him and nodded quietly. "My mom's not exactly a fan of your parents," he told her, but seemed to regret his statement very quickly. He felt a quick pinch in his forehead, but it went away as soon as it had come.

"Not many Purebloods are," Alice said. The two had reached the doors and walked outside, still remaining beside each other. Suddenly, Severus seemed to realize something.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

Severus stopped, thanking God that the grounds were empty for the next few minutes until the end of class. "That my mom was Pureblooded." Alice shrugged and continued walking, her lips closed to prevent herself from speaking. Severus followed her, matching her slow strides. "Is it true you can create a Corporeal Patronus?" Alice frowned.

"Yes," she said, "but I'm really not very good at it."

"You sound good enough at it to me." Alice's frown turned into a very small smile.

"So, are you the _real_ Severus Snape?" she asked him. He nodded, rolling his eyes at the understanding that Potter must have told her about him. "Do they really hate you as much as they say they do?"

"Yes…and I return those feelings entirely."

"I suppose you would." They stopped in front of the same tree beside the lake. Severus glanced at Alice, as if hoping she would claim the spot for herself.

"Aren't you going to sit?" she asked. He nervously leaned back against the tree, allowing his body to fall to the ground. To his surprise, Alice followed suit, pulling out her textbook. She opened it quietly and began to read. Severus followed suit, but couldn't help looking up from his book every few seconds to check if she was still there. Alice noticed this.

"You know, if you don't want me sitting here, I don't mind leaving."

"No…it's not that. It's just…I'm surprised, is all."

"Why would you be surprised?" Severus brow furrowed.

"Well…you're a Griffindor."

"Yes…?"

"I'm a Slytherin."

"Yes."

"Alright…"

The two continued reading, side by side, until they noticed the other students finally being let out of the school for a break. Both of them stayed put, but watched the crowd curiously, as if searching for people they knew. It was then that Alice noticed a group of Slytherin students she had seen in her Potions class. Evan Rosier, Christopher Wilkes, Timothy Avery and Narcissa Black were visibly approaching the tree where Severus sat, and Alice instantly recognized her cousin as looking particularly unhappy.

"Are they coming here?" she asked.

"Yes," Severus answered. Alice pursed her lips and began to put away her textbook. "Where are you going?"

"Nowhere…I just have to leave now," Alice said, now standing up. She began to leave, but quickly turned back. "Do you want to meet in the library…maybe discuss what Slughorn was telling us today about the Wolfsbane potion?"

Severus was dumbfounded at the offer, but still nodded slowly after a few moments of consideration. Alice nodded back, oddly, and then left. Severus quickly turned back to his own book, smiling to himself a bit. Finally, his three fellow students made it to his tree and sat down around him.

"I can't believe you were talking to her!" she said to him angrily.

"I wasn't speaking to her, Narcissa, merely tolerating her."

"Well, it sure looked like you were talking."

"You act as if we were gossiping about hair products. Trust me…I doubt she will want to speak with me again. I'm impolite at the best of times." Narcissa glared, but stopped complaining about it. Instead, she focused on Alice herself.

"The nerve, coming to Hogwarts so late."

"I know," Evan agreed, but added, "I wish I had thought of that." Narcissa slapped him in the arm, but allowed a curved smile to creep onto her face.

"You must admit, though," Tim said, "she sure is talented."

"Of course she's talented, she's a Black!" Narcissa stated with pride.

"Yes, but aren't her parents…well…different?" he asked. "Like, beyond regular power?" Narcissa fumed.

"Does that really matter? The point is she's a blood traitor, and an ugly one at that," she added. Chris raised an eyebrow.

"You think she's-?"

"Of course she's ugly. She's hideous. You can practically smell the muggle on her." Chris looked at Snape, who shrugged. Narcissa looked around and noticed a friend of hers, Cynthia, who was waving her over. She stood up and left without a goodbye. Tim turned to the other boys when she was gone.

"Ugly is going a bit far, isn't it? I mean, she's still a Pureblood, even if she's a blood traitor." He quieted at the silent responses from the others. "Well…it's true."

"Avery, admit it. You're just enamored by her beauty," Evan said, rolling his eyes. "And really, she's not even _that_ pretty. Not compared to the other girls here."

"Well, I'm just saying that she's not _horribly_ flawed," Tim defended himself. "What do you think, Snape?" Severus looked up, dumbstruck.

"About what?"

"D'you think she's attractive?"

"Who cares if she is," Severus answered, "she's a Griffindor."

-

When Alice entered the Common Room after the school day had ended, she immediately went to sit near Lily and Remus, who were each finishing their History of Magic homework together. They greeted her calmly and the three of them continued to work busily. However, she couldn't help but notice her name being whispered nearby. She turned around. James, Sirius, Frank and Peter seemed to be talking about her. Frank was the first to notice.

"Guys…" he said, and they all turned to face Alice.

"What?" she asked, causing both Remus and Lily to look up from their work.

"Oh…um…" James began.

"We were just wondering where you went after Potions," Sirius finished for his friend. Alice shrugged.

"I just went outside," she explained, "to read an extra chapter of my Defense textbook." Peter frowned.

"Frank said he-"

"Peter, shut it!" Frank interrupted.

"-saw you with Snivellus."

"Snivellus?" Alice inquired.

"Snape," Remus clarified for her. Alice's brow furrowed in surprise.

"Why would you call him that?" They all shrugged. Alice stood up, closing her book. "I need to go to the library," she said, beginning to leave.

"Oh, here, I'll walk you," Remus offered, closing his book also.

"No…it's fine," she told him and left through the portrait hole.

"Well, now you've done it," Lily rolled her eyes at the boys and continued working with Remus without Alice.

-

The morning of the full moon was a particularly quiet one. Alice woke up early and left her dorm without the other girls. By the time the other Griffindors sat beside her at the Breakfast table, she was already leaving to get something from her dorm room. None of the Marauders seemed too upset about this, and felt even better when the rest of the girls left them.

"Wednesday," Sirius noted, trying to sound inconspicuous.

"So?" Peter asked. "What are we going to do?" He looked at Remus, who shrugged. Remus never looked well on full moons. There was something that made him seem as if he was sick, for both physical and emotional reasons.

"Same thing we do every _Wednesday,_" James decided for them. "Why change it?" Remus eyed him carefully.

"I'm not sure…I mean, I heard the weather wouldn't be all that great tonight," he said, a warning look in his eyes.

"We'll make it," James told the others, and they continued their meal as naturally as they could manage.

-

The day's classes had ended once again. Alice returned to the Common Room and immediately took her place next to Lily for homework. Every time Lily would mention something social, Alice would change the subject back to their schoolwork, leaving Lily confused as to Alice's feelings towards the group. Tonight, however, the two were stopped by Professor McGonagall.

"Alice?" she asked, making Alice swing her head around and nod. "The Headmaster would like to see you in his office, please." All but the Seventh Year Griffindors watched her leave in total confusion.

Before leaving Alice in front of the stone gargoyles, Professor McGonagall told her what the current password was. After making sure that she was alone, Alice spoke the password and was allowed up in the huge office. It was a beautiful room with tall ceilings and bookshelves that surrounded a bearded man. Alice knew this man as Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Hello, Ms. Ashby," he greeted her as he motioned to a seat opposite of his. Alice sat down in it and took a slow, deep breath, unaware of why she was in the office. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here?" Dumbledore surprised Alice with his knowledge, but she accepted this quickly, nodding in answer to his question. "You are going out tonight in search of Animagus, I understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"I believe that Filch complained about something else he noticed…_heard,_ perhaps?"

"Yes. He did, Professor."

Dumbledore eyed Alice carefully. She knew that she was probably not going to be fond of what she heard next.

-

A werewolf, a stag, a dog and a rat ran throughout the forest.

_"What time is it?"_ the rat squeaked.

_"Just past midnight,"_ the dog barked in reply, nipping playfully at the werewolf, who would never speak back to them. Suddenly, a noise was heard.

_"Damn!"_ the stag yelled.

_"What do you think it is?"_ the rat asked.

_"It's Alice, obviously,"_ the dog stated, still playing with the werewolf. The werewolf suddenly became still. It stuck its nose into the air and began to sniff carefully. The dog eyed it, and then seemed to realize something. _ "We need to get him back to the Willow!"_

_"What are you talking about?"_ the stag asked.

_"Come on, we need to get him back!"_

_"How come?"_ asked the rat.

_"She's a bloody human!"_

All of the animals instantly realized their mistake. Werewolves would not attack animals, but they hated humans. Remus could kill Alice. The werewolf seemed to want to run after the noise beyond the trees. The other animals strained themselves to prevent this, but he escaped from them, running into the bushes.

-

Remus woke up in the Shack. He opened his eyes halfway, his vision not working as well as he would have liked. It was darker than it usually was when he woke up. Everything around him seemed blurred, including Madame Pomfrey, who was muttering spells at his wounds to close them as well as she could before taking him to the Hospital Wing. For some reason, though, Madame Pomfrey seemed different than usual. She seemed somewhat smaller, and her voice was lower than he remembered it. She wore black instead of her usual white. He tried to speak.

"Madame…" he managed to get out.

Madame Pomfrey looked up. Remus noticed that her hair looked different.

"It's okay, Remus…just go back to sleep…" she ordered him quietly.

_'She called me Remus…?'_ he thought, as he followed her instruction.

-

The Griffindors (excluding Frank) all ate breakfast together that morning, including Alice, who seemed particularly tired. Remus was not with them.

"Is Remus alright?" Lily, who was unaware of Remus' werewolf condition, asked James, who also seemed tired.

"What?" he looked up. "Oh. Yeah, he just threw up last night. You know how crazy Madame Pomfrey is."

"She said he'd be fine by tomorrow, though," Sirius said. Even though he looked tired, he still had an unusual smile on his face. The Marauders knew that it usually took two or more days for Remus to heal. The girls just thought he got sick often. Peter, who was the most worried about being caught the night before, looked at Alice, who was eating in total silence.

"So…how'd it go last night?" he whispered.

"Peter, hush!" Lily said, nudging him. Across the table, Alice looked up. She remained silent for a moment.

"No luck," she told them, shrugging. "I heard some things, but didn't actually see it." James' smile grew as Sirius' shrunk. Something near the doorway caught her eye. It was Severus Snape, Lily noticed, but did not say anything. "I have to head off," she told them, and gave a half smile as she left, which they all returned, Lily halfheartedly.

"She doesn't know what she's getting into," she told them once Alice was out of earshot.

"She'll be fine," Holly told her.

"Holly's right!" James stated, seeming quite content. "That Alice, she can take care of herself." Lily groaned at James' obvious attempt to compliment her friend, but got her mind off of the topic anyways.

-

"We are the _luckiest_ boys in the world!" James announced as they returned to the Boys' Dorm that night. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"How do you mean?" he asked.

"She didn't suspect a thing. She doesn't know it's us!"

"You don't think so?" Peter asked, beginning to grin. Sirius groaned.

"Prongs, you are the dumbest Wizard I've ever seen." James raised an eyebrow. "She's one of the most powerful witches in the world. We barely got Remus away from her. We were a couple trees away. Maybe she doesn't know it's us…but she knows that there was somebody out there."

"But we came back to the castle right after that," James told him. "We're golden."

"What about Remus? What if she knows there's a werewolf out there."

"But she won't know it's Remus?" Peter asked, nervously.

"Who cares," Sirius sighed. "He could still be in trouble. You know how Filch hates us! If he finds out…the whole school could."

"Dumbledore would never let that happen." Frank, who had been lying in his bed, joined the conversation. "He'd fire Filch first." There was silence.

"I'm worried," Sirius finally said, "about Remus."

"How come?" James asked. "Madame Pomfrey said he looked great this morning."

"I know…but…don't you think that's weird? We left him alone in the Shack after he tried to chase down Alice. He was angry! He should have hurt himself more."

"Just accept it," James said. "We're all fine for now. Let's just enjoy it."

-

The five Griffindor girls entered their Dorm and got ready for bed.

"Oh, God, I'm so ready to sleep right now," Parvati whined as she fell into her bed.

"I'm with you," Elsbeth agreed.

"Goodnight, ladies!" Holly said, turning out the final light in the room. There was total silence as three of the girls fell asleep quickly. Deciding that she was the only one awake, Lily crawled out of her bed towards Alice's, and shook her awake. Alice opened her eyes, having not been asleep at all yet.

"What is it?" she asked in a whisper.

"It's just…" Lily didn't know how to ask what she wanted.

"Is this about Severus?" Lily nodded. "Lily, I don't see why you don't like him. He's a Slytherin…but that's all. Frank spends most of his time with Ravenclaws," she added, to help her point.

"Yes…but this isn't about Houses, Alice. It's…it's different."

"Lily, I'm fine. Trust me. We're just partners for Potions class."

"Are you sure?" Alice answered by turning over, facing away from Lily. "Goodnight," she muttered curtly.

"Goodnight," Alice replied, falling asleep. Lily returned to her bed, worried. This wouldn't end well.

-

Author's Notes: Again, a very informative chapter. A lot happened here. I guess I just want to say that I really hope you all liked this chapter - review with your thoughts!

Next Chapter: What will happen when Remus returns to the gang? Will Alice listen to Lily's warning? Will she figure out that the Marauders are actually the Animagus? Will Snape even admit their newfound friendship? Find out in the next installment of: Camaraderie!


	4. Wolfsbane Potion

Warning: This story is now DH compliant! I strongly suggest not reading if you haven't yet finished the book!

--

Camaraderie

When the boys awoke, Remus was lying down in his own bed, still looking a bit pale, but far better than he usually looked after a full moon. After they were all up, they looked at one another, wondering who would take the daunting task of waking Remus up. He had just been returned to them, and they wondered exactly how long they could allow him to sleep in.

"D'you think he'd be mad if we woke him up now?" Peter asked aloud.

"Why would he be mad? We have classes soon," James answered.

"Well then, why don't _you_ wake him up, _James?"_

"Well, _Frank,_ why don't _you?"_

"Guys! Be quiet…I'll do it."

"Thank you, _Sirius-"_

"Oh, shut it, Prongs."

Sirius slowly approached Remus' bed. He felt almost guilty about waking him up, even though they all knew he would be more content than usual. He had hardly received any wounds from the previous full moon, which was a very strange situation. He usually came back to them entirely bruised and beat up, leaving them all frantic about creating an excuse for the scars. The others watched as Sirius bent down over Remus. He reached his hand out to prod his friends arm-

"BOO!"

Remus thrust forward, scaring Sirius so much that he fell backwards away from the bed. Remus laughed loudly at his successful attempt at trickery and go out of bed quickly, the rest of them watching his with looks of amazement. Sirius stood up.

"You were awake?"

"You think?"

"But…you didn't…you never…"

"Trust me, nobody could sleep through you guys."

Remus got dressed quickly, the others with varying looks of shock on their faces. Finally, he seemed to acknowledge this.

"Okay, what is it?"

"It's just…" Peter began to trail off for a moment, but continued speaking, "Madame Pomfrey said that you were really good this time…but…"

"But what?"

"You're not usually able to move so fast afterwards, mate," Frank finished for the others.

"Well, I guess I just had a good month, didn't I?" Remus grinned. "I wouldn't mind knowing, though…what did you do differently? Tie me up or something?"

"Not exactly…" Sirius began, but trailed off. He would avoid what really happened for now.

"I mean, I don't feel perfect yet, but so much better than usual."

"We have no idea."

"Well, whatever it was, it was amazing. Anyways, breakfast!" He decided, and led the way to the Great Hall.

--

"Remus, you're back!" Lily was the first to notice the werewolf as he walked into the Great Hall with the other Griffindor boys. As per usual, Frank left for the Ravenclaw table, giving Remus a friendly pat on the back before he did so. The other's sat down with Lily and her dorm mates.

"You know, Lily, as exciting as I know my returning is, the entire Hall doesn't need to know about it," Remus said to her, but he still had a hint of a smile.

"You look a bit pale," Alice noted, eying him carefully. "You sure you're ready to come back so soon?" Remus was about to answer, but suddenly felt a sharp pain at his temple. It came and went quickly, but was still a long enough pause that James felt the need to cut into the conversation.

"Oh, he was just a bit nauseous," he told Alice with a grin, distracting her. "Nothing Madame Pomfrey couldn't fix."

"Alice is right," Parvati cut in, "You do look pretty peaky."

"Don't worry - I'm fine," Remus assured her.

"And you don't think you could be contagious?" Elsbeth asked, worried.

"No. It's nothing contagious. Trust me - Madame Pomfrey would never let me out if it was!"

None of them noticed the smirk that Sirius wore beside Remus. No, it wasn't contagious.

--

A week passed by quickly. The Marauders went back to their usual pranking, Lily and James fought even more often than they had the year before, Remus seemed healthier than ever, the Griffindor girls began to gossip more about the improvements many boys had achieved over the summer and Alice spent a great deal of her time in the library with Severus Snape. Lily couldn't help resenting Alice a bit for not taking her advice yet, but knew she had to trust Alice's judgment. Perhaps things would be different between Alice and Severus than they had been with Lily and him.

The one thing that did bother Lily at the moment was something that had to do with a theory Severus had presented to her a few years earlier, having to do with the reason Remus was sick so regularly. The topic was on her mind a lot more lately, due to what Alice had told them about her encounter with the werewolf years before. And then the Animagus. And Remus' constant disappearances.

Again, Lily decided that she would just have to trust in these things.

--

By the end of the week, Alice and Severus' meetings were becoming far more frequent. Subconsciously, they found that they would go outside at different times and that they would always take a different route to their meeting spot on the grounds, at a spot near the water that was seldom visited. Neither wanted it to be well known that the two met so often. Perhaps it was because of the house differences, but neither really knew as they hadn't _really_ noticed it.

"Still, adding the root would be calming, making it less likely for them to resort to violence."

"I understand that, but we're trying to give them conscious thought, not just sedate them-"

"But that's not possible, Alice - alternate egos are one of the biggest aspects of being a werewolf."

"Shouldn't it be possible, though, under the right circumstances, to mesh the two egos together, or to bring the human one to the forefront, giving it power to control the other?"

Alice and Severus sat outside on the grounds, flipping through textbooks and library books for proof of their two contrasting theories. They had been discussing the Wolfsbane Potion for quite some time now, trying to find ways of improving it. Unfortunately, they had very different ideas about what 'improving it' meant.

"Only if you want them to retain their humanity," Severus argued, "which at this point is too far-fetched to be possible."

"So is sedating them. It's extremely difficult to weaken a werewolf."

"Not for the great Alice Ashby, I'm sure. Even with the wrong spell you was able to scare a werewolf away." Alice frowned.

"Where did you hear that?"

"You'll notice that word gets around quickly here. Especially when it's about the most powerful witch in the world."

"Not yet."

"Well, soon."

"Never mind that. Who did you hear it from?"

"Narcissa overheard her cousin - Black - talking about it in the Great Hall. No doubt worried about his little werewolf friend."

Alice wasn't sure what she was more taken aback by: the fact that the Gryffindors had talked about what she said in such a public place or what Severus had just mentioned about a 'werewolf friend.'

"Sorry?" she asked.

"Well, surely you've figured it out?"

"Apparently not." Severus raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose you wouldn't have made the connection yet, you've only been here for one full moon. Which you still refuse to tell me about."

"I did tell you about it - nothing happened. I didn't find anything."

"So you say."

"That's right. Now, what are you thinking?"

"If you don't know," Severus began, "I'll give you some time to figure it out for yourself."

"I do know _what_ you're thinking; I just completely disagree with it."

"Give it a couple more months. Watch him…and his little friends, too. They've got something going on as well. In the meanwhile, I'm going to go and find my friends."

Alice felt a pang of disappointment as Severus left her by the lake. She knew she shouldn't be offended that he didn't include her as one of his friends, but she couldn't help the stabbing feeling she felt in her chest as she watched Severus' back, moving to find his fellow Slytherins…and her cousin. She suddenly did something she had never done before. She felt a hatred for Narcissa that she had never felt before, a hatred that left as quickly as it had come. She didn't even know why she had felt it, only that it bothered her so much that her cousin was turning Severus into something she didn't like.

Wanting to take her mind off of it, Alice returned to the book she was reading. It was one she had borrowed from Professor Slughorn, with an in-depth chapter about the Wolfsbane Theory. At present, the Wolfsbane Potion was nothing but a powerful draught that would ease the pain of the Transformation experience, with the hopes that the lack of discomfort would keep the wolf more at ease, and less likely to attack itself. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective, and was so expensive that most werewolves would never be able to afford it.

Alice began to re-read the chapter. She did not get far. Only a couple pages in, she heard a voice:

"That you, Alice?" Alice looked up to find Frank standing before her, book bag in hand. "Hey," he said, and sat down beside her.

"Hey," Alice replied, smiling a little.

"What's that?"

"This?" Alice held up the book as Frank nodded. "It's just something Professor Slughorn lent me."

"What are you reading about." Pause.

"Felix Felicis Potion." A lie.

"I wish I could brew that. It's too bad you need a license."

"No kidding." Alice closed the book, placing it beside her. She watched as Frank opened his book bag and drew some parchment and a quill out of it.

"You don't mind if I write here, do you?"

"Not at all," Alice placed a hand over her book, readying herself to leave.

"Oh, you can stay, eh?" Alice stopped.

"You don't mind?"

"Not unless you do." Alice looked sideways at Frank's parchment. He placed his quill in his ink and wrote at the top of the parchment: 'Dear Susan,'.

"What are you writing?" Alice asked, even though she already knew it was a letter.

"Just a letter to my…" Frank paused. "Well, to my girlfriend."

"Why would you need to write her a letter if you can just talk to her?"

"Well, she doesn't go to school here."

"Oh. Where does she go? Beauxbatons?" Frank seemed slightly nervous as he answered.

"She's a muggle."

"Oh!" Alice was embarrassed at her excitement, so she decided to calm things down with a question. "How did you meet her?"

"My mum. She really wanted to take me to one of those muggle carnivals one day. My Uncle Algie was performing there for some reason."

"A magic show?"

"Yeah. He's not the most honest person, my uncle. Anyways, while Mum watched his show, I went walking around the carnival. I went on a few rides - one was a big carousel, and we had to sit together because so many kids wanted to go on it. We kept meeting randomly throughout the day, and she gave me her address at the end of the day. We've been meeting and writing ever since."

"Do you live close together?"

"Not exactly…she lives pretty close to a Wizard pub, so I tend to Floo there and then visit her."

"She must think you take a lot of travel time for her." Alice realized something. "Unless she knows…?"

"Oh…no! No, I haven't told her."

"Why not?" Alice asked, if only to make conversation.

"Well…I guess I inherited my uncle's dishonesty." Alice smiled in amusement.

"What's her name?" she asked, though she already knew.

"Susan."

"That's my mother's name."

"I know."

"Oh," Alice realized. "Yeah, you would." Frank smiled at her.

"Is it weird?"

"Is what weird?"

"You know…being famous. Having people learn about you in class."

"It's…" Alice let out a little laugh. "It's pretty weird."

"I'm not sure I could stand it. I mean, just think - people will remember you for ages, won't they? The super-powerful Ashbys. And your kids - imagine what they'll have to go through." Alice raised an eyebrow. "And that was really weird. Gah. Kid talk. Not yet. Too much for my innocent mind!"

Alice laughed loudly at Frank's antics.

"What can I say?" he told her. "I'm pretty hilarious."

"Can I ask you something?" Frank shrugged.

"Sure."

"It's just…why do you always - hang out - with the Ravenclaws?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…it seems to me that you would be closer to James and Sirius and all of them. You're so similar."

"I don't know. It's not that I don't like them-"

"Oh, I know that!" Alice mentally kicked herself for interrupting.

"I guess I'm just better friends with Billy and Arthur. I'm a Ravenclaw more than a Gryffindor."

"Then why do you think you're in Gryffindor?"

"Couldn't tell you. It's not like I'm really brave or anything."

"Don't say that."

"Well, it's true. I've never done anything brave."

"Neither have I."

"Sure, but everybody knew you were going to be in Gryffindor." Alice's eyes widened a bit, a look of surprise on her face.

"How?"

"Well, you sort of have to be, don't you? I mean, you're Alice Ashby. Most powerful witch ever. It's a bit of a given." Alice shook her head.

"I don't think so. And I'm not that powerful…I just…I work really hard."

"And it pays off."

"Well, I'd prefer to just read about things than have to do them. I just don't have much of a choice."

"'Cause you're so powerful?" Frank asked.

"Maybe." Alice shrugged lightly.

"I guess people would just expect you to go around performing spells and saving everybody." Frank grinned. "Hey, maybe you're just another Ravenclaw at heart. Like me."

"Maybe," Alice said again, this time with a smile. Her attention went back to the parchment on Frank's lap. "So, what are you going to write to her about?"

"I dunno…just…well, why don't you help me figure that out?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Me?"

"Well, you're a girl," Frank put on a mischievous grin, "aren't you?"

"Ha. Well, I probably won't be of much help."

"Just tell me what to write about. What would she be interested in."

"I don't know…school?"

"Alice, that might give away my little secret-"

"You don't have to tell her about your classes!" Alice said with a laugh. "Just…tell her about your friends, and anything fun you've been doing."

"Um…"

"How long have you known her, Frank?"

"Since Christmas last year."

"Okay…well…what have you been telling her?"

"Mostly about…well, not much. We mostly just talk about stuff we've done together. I thought I'd do something different this time."

"Then tell her what you've been up to."

"All I've been doing is playing Quidditch. I can't tell her that."

"Tell her you've been playing football."

"Football?" Alice's eyes widened again.

"Surely you know football?" Frank bit his lip. "Muggle sport." He shrugged. "Requires a round ball and two nets?" Frank shrugged again. Alice sighed. "Well…just write it, for now."

"What position do I play in football?"

"Goalie."

"Goalie?"

"Like Keeper." Frank raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know so much about this sport?"

"I'm alive."

"Oh, good one," Frank said sarcastically, but playfully.

The two spent the next while writing Frank's letter. It was strange to Alice, as she had not interacted much with Frank before that moment. Still, even though they barely knew each other, Alice felt like Frank was someone who wasn't particularly difficult to talk to, unlike Severus was. Alice enjoyed writing Frank's letter, laughing when he begged her to tell him what he should write to finish the letter.

"Why not: 'Love, Frank'?" she suggested.

"I don't know…"

"Well, do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Love her?" Frank paused awkwardly.

"Yeah…but…what if it freaks her out?"

"What do you usually write on your letters?"

"Just 'Frank.'" 

"Well then, change it," Alice insisted.

"So suddenly?"

"Then…why not saying…'Lovingly Yours, Frank'?"

"See, that sounds so much better."

"Then use it!" Alice laughed.

"Fine, I will!"

He finished the letter and began to pack up.

"Well, I'd better go and mail this," he said.

"Don't waste any time, then," Alice told him.

"Hey, Alice?" Frank got her attention before leaving.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem."

He began to leave, but turned around again.

"Oh, and Alice?"

"Uh-huh?"

"I think you're a good Gryffindor."

Alice was taken aback by this.

"Thank you," she said. Finally, Frank left, and Alice continued with her reading.

--

Author's Notes: There you go, some Alice/Frank interaction. It's a nice long scene, one that I really liked writing. I'm not sure if I should tell you this, but most of this story will not have very little to do with a _romantic_ relationship between Alice and Frank. Okay, so I totally shouldn't have told you that. Let's just say that I have a few surprises up my sleeve for both characters, as well as a couple others. Care to guess which ones those are? I'll bet you can't. But still, romances are going to start being bigger from now on, as the characters start to interact more. In other news, aren't you so happy that Remus is okay? And aren't you so pissed at Snape for being such a butthead.

Now, in your reviews, I'd really like for you guys to not only tell me what you think, but to give me an idea of what you want to see more of. Any particular characters you want me to write about and/or focus more on? Tell all!

Next Chapter: How will Susan respond to Frank's letter? Why is Snape so cold to Alice? Does he know more about the Marauders than we think he does? Will Lily and James ever admit their love for each other? Why is Remus doing so well this month? Find out in the next installment of: Camaraderie!


	5. Upstanding Engagements

Camaraderie

That night, the five Gryffindor girls sat in their dorm, each of them finished their homework. It was after curfew, so they couldn't go out on the Grounds, but it was still early enough that they weren't about to go to bed any time soon. They were thoroughly bored until Holly spoke up, for the sole reason of bothering Lily.

"So, you and James seemed to be sitting pretty close in Potions today, didn't you?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Only because he wouldn't move away. I swear: I've never met anyone as shameless as him," she stated.

"But you do like him, don't you?" Parvati inquired.

"Excuse me?"

"You know - _like_ him."

"What are you, in Grade four?"

Alice chuckled at the jest, but the other girls did not seem to get it at all.

"Muggle thing," Lily explained, to which they all let out a long, 'Oh.'

"Well anyways, do you?" Elsbeth prodded. Lily stared incredulously at her and then softened her features, letting out a small laugh.

"No more than you like Peter, Elsbeth."

"Not funny!" It was a well known fact that Peter had taken Elsbeth to the Yule Ball the year before. They had kissed, and Elsbeth maintained that it had been the worst kiss of her entire life.

"And not true," Parvati noted, saving Elsbeth from the abounding laughter. "She's clearly madly in love with him."

"I am not!" Lily insisted, now seeming especially annoyed.

"Don't lie, Lily!"

"Oh, come off it," Alice was grinning, but she had still decided to take the pressure off of Lily. Lily gave a small smile in thanks. What Alice didn't know was that by protecting her friend, the pressure would be put on her. Holly was the first to speak.

"What about you? Where've you been disapparating to lately?" Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Wait…I thought you could disapparate in Hogwarts?"

"It's a joke, Alice."

"Oh."

"Well, where were you today?"

"Just outside, by the lake. Frank needed help writing a letter."

"A letter? To whom?" Lily asked her.

"His girlfriend."

"Oh, the muggle one?" Parvati inquired. Alice nodded.

"And he came to you for help?" Holly asked.

"Yes…"

"That's so sweet!"

"I guess so…" Alice laughed softly.

"And the rest of the last few weeks? Surely he doesn't need to write that many letters?" Holly asked.

"Oh, just doing homework."

"But still…where?"

"Or rather, with whom?" Parvati added.

"I've just been doing potions homework-"

_"With Snape?"_

"…yes…" Alice was confused. "Why does it seem to matter so much to everybody?"

"Well…it's…_Snivellus!"_ Elsbeth said.

"His name is Severus."

"And you're sticking up for him now, too!" Holly noted. "Even in front of the boys."

"Look, I don't see why none of you like him. I know he's a Slytherin but…why should that matter?"

"Oh, Alice!" It was Lily who suddenly became quite emotional. "You just don't understand!" With that Lily stood up and left the dorm, probably to go down the stairs to the Common Room, if only for the quiet. Alice looked entirely confused, and felt slightly guilty, although she didn't know why.

"She's really angry at me for it," Alice muttered nervously to the other girls.

"She's not mad at you," Elsbeth told her, "she's just worried about you."

"Why should she worry?"

The other girls looked at each other, each of their eyes begging a question that Alice did not know. Finally, they came to a silent agreement.

"Look, Alice, we're going to tell you this, but you can't tell Lily that we did, okay?" Parvati began. Alice nodded in agreement with their terms. Parvati took a deep breath and began the story.

"Lily and Sniv- Severus," she corrected, noticing Alice's discomfort, "live really close together. They've been friends for years…Severus told her that she was a witch before she even got her Hogwarts letter. So, when they came to school, they were really good friends. And I mean _really_ good." Holly took over here.

"But Lily got sorted into Gryffindor, and Snape got sorted into Slytherin. They didn't mind too much, until Snape started making friends. Bad friends. Most of them were older than him…Lucius Malfoy, Rudolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix Black-"

"That's my cousin!" Alice noted, but then realized that she shouldn't be so shocked. They were all Slytherins after all.

"Anyways, so did his dorm mates," Elsbeth continued, "and they started to get into some pretty dark magic. Lily didn't like it, but they were still…friends…up until fifth year." None of them seemed to want to continue the story.

"What happened in fifth year?" Alice asked, and finally Holly told her.

"He called her a Mudblood." Alice gasped.

"It wasn't just that. Everybody sort of knew something that Lily really didn't want to realize, but we're pretty sure she has by now…" Elsbeth paused, not knowing how to keep going with the story.

"What?"

"He was in love with her!" Holly whispered sharply.

"Wait…no…he can't have been!" Alice was shocked. "Really?"

"Yes," Parvati said. "And…hey…what if he's in love with you, too? Oh, Alice, you have to stop seeing him!"

"No…we're not like that. We're just doing schoolwork." Alice's eyes were wide, still in shock. Then, suddenly, the shock wore off. "We're not like that!" she insisted the other girls. Holly spoke:

"But Alice, what if he's secretly in love with you?"

"He's not. We're not even…" she trailed off, the pain of the sentence stopping her for a moment. "Friends."

"Says who?"

"Says…both of us." Alice sighed. "Let's just go to bed, okay?"

"You don't have watch?" Elsbeth asked.

"No…that was just for the first couple of days. Only on full moons now."

"Well…goodnight, then," Parvati said, turning out the light.   
Alice, just remember what we told you."

"Sure." This was sincere. And as Alice placed her head down on her pillow, she suddenly felt like a weight was lifted, because Severus Snape wasn't in love with her. He didn't even like her.

--

"Well, don't you look like a bundle of laughs today," Severus told Narcissa as she took her place on the grass with the Slytherin boys a week later. She immediately crossed her arms and glared at him, while the other three boys gave her confused glances. Severus simply sighed, his jest having not gone over very well.

"Don't make jokes. I'm perfectly fine, thank you, I've just got a lot on my mind lately," she told him, and pushed away a lock of light blonde hair. Before Rosier could ask about what was on her mind, a boy approached the group. It was Regulus Black approached the group and sat with them in their circle, asking Snape a question:

"Severus, you need to help me with my potions homework."

"Ask me again when we're in the common room," Severus told him. Regulus did not look particularly happy about this, but complied. He remained in the circle. Suddenly, he seemed to notice Narcissa's presence.

"Narcissa, I just heard!" he began joyfully. Narcissa glared at him, as if begging that he wouldn't say what he had heard. Noting her glare, he gave her a swift pat on the arm and left the group. Wilkes looked particularly interested.

"What's happened, Narcissa?" She gave in.

"If you must know, I am now officially engaged to Lucius Malfoy." She said this with both pride and disdain, an emotion that she had perfected over the years.

"Engaged? But you're not even out of school yet!" Avery said.

"It does seem rather traditional," Severus told her.

"Yes, but this one is rather important. It is an upstanding, pureblood marriage. Besides, we won't marry until I'm out of school." She took a deep breath. "It is an honour."

"Well then, may I be the first of us to offer my congratulations," Severus told her, in a way he had perfected: a voice so silky it was questionable whether or not he was sincere. Narcissa shrugged off the gesture, not caring.

"Obviously, the engagement party is public to those wizards who wish and are able to go," she told them, at which point Severus quieted, simply watching as the others showered her with congratulations.

--

Frank lay on his bed in the Gryffindor dorm room, particularly interested in a sheet of paper. It was covered with doodles and messy handwriting, but he seemed to be enjoying its contents very much. It was, after all, Susan's letter. He had cast a spell on a fake address, so that when her letter arrived there his owl would pick it up. It was an extremely complicated spell, one that Frank was very happy with himself for casting, but he could not tell his Mother, for though she would say she did, she would not truly approve of his relationship with a Muggle. He just wasn't ready to tell her yet. A few moments after finishing the letter, he heard a voice.

"Is that from your girlfriend?" It was Remus.

"Yeah."

"How is she?"

"Fine."

"Good."

Frank sat up and glanced at Remus, who had come in alone. Remus slowly moved to his own bed and sat down, proceeding to pull his legs up into a crossed position. Frank heard him sigh as he sat in the silence.

"What's up?" Frank asked him.

"I don't know…it's nothing wrong, if that's what you mean."

"Then what is it?"

"Well, it's odd, isn't it? That everything's fine this time? With me?"

"Sure it is, but that doesn't make it bad." Frank set down his letter and faced Remus.

"I know that, but it still seems…off. Does that make any sense?"

"Sure it does."

"And…" Remus sighed. "Never mind."

"Go on."

"I feel like it's going to put them in danger."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean…they're going to think that…" Remus took a breath. "They're going to think that they have to stay with me every time. I hate that."

"Why? Don't they help?"

"Well…sure they do. But it puts them in such big danger."

"I don't think they're worried about that," Frank said with a chuckle.

"Exactly." Remus' dark tone cut off Frank's laughter instantly. "They think they're invincible. They just…they don't understand. They don't get that it's not me, that when I'm a werewolf I could- I'm sorry," Remus cut off, "I know how weird this is for you."

"Not really," Frank told him, although it wasn't completely true. "It just my Mum, really. I get it."

"Even so…sorry."

"Whatever."

"Frank?"

"Hm?"

"Something really weird happened this month."

"What?"

Here there was a long pause, as Remus questioned whether or not to confide in Frank. Taking in a long breath, Remus began.

"Well, usually…when I wake up in the morning…Madame Pomfrey's there, right?" Frank nodded, following. "Well…this time she was _there, _but there was something really…weird…about her."

"Weird how?"

"Just…different. She called me Remus."

"Maybe she just wanted to be more friendly?"

"But she never does that. She calls me Mr. Lupin or nothing else. And then…I was half asleep at the time…but she was doing something different to me to heal me. I was hurting when I woke up, but not the same way as usual. There was something…warmer about it."

"The guys never mentioned any new spells," Frank said.

"Neither did she. That bugs me. The thing is, she even looked different. She always wears her white uniform, and that morning she was wearing black. At first I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, but she seemed smaller, too. And then…"

"Yeah?"

"She told me to fall asleep…and her voice…"

_"What,_ Remus?"

"Frank…I think it was Alice."

_"What?"_ Frank was flabbergasted at the statement.

"I really do. I mean, just think about it. Madame Pomfrey didn't know about any new healing spells-"

"Just because she didn't say it doesn't mean she didn't use them!"

"But even if she had used a new spell, they wouldn't have worked as well as they did! Healing spells are hard, and while Madame Pomfrey is a great medi-witch, she's really not that powerful. Now, who do we know that is?"

"Remus, don't be ridiculous. Alice doesn't even know about you…about you being," Frank forced himself to say it, "a werewolf."

"We don't know that."

"She would have said something. You _know_ she would have said something."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I guess you're right…it was just strange, is all."

Frank shrugged. "Nothing wrong with strange. Besides, if you were just waking up, most of it was probably just your imagination. You were half asleep."

"Yeah." Remus stood up. "Well, I'm going down to the Common Room. Want to come?"

"No thanks…I've got to write a reply and all that."

"Shouldn't you find Alice to help you?" Remus asked with a sly grin.

"How do you know about that?"

"Everybody knows that…how you needed a girl to help you write a letter to your girl. Couldn't stand to write a sub-par letter. You, Frank Longbottom, are whipped."

"Oh, you'd better hush up!" Frank warned, but he had a look of amusement on his face. "It won't be long before people figure out _your _little infatuation. Especially if you keep imagining her when you're half asleep."

"Don't you dare tell!" Remus was suddenly nervous, but he calmed himself down. "Please?"

"Of course I won't, wanker. Now get to the Common Room and call me when it's dinnertime."

"See you then, then," Remus shrugged as he left.

"Yep," Frank replied as the door shut. He was rather amused by his discovery - calling Remus out on his little crush had been no more than a guess, but now, he decided with a chuckle, he might be able to use it for his own benefit.

--

Dinner that night was entirely uneventful, although interesting, since it was one of the few meals that year when all of the seventh year Gryffindors were sitting together. Things went on as usual, still. James and Lily fought through most of the meal, most of the girls exchanged amused glances at their antics, Parvati flirted shamelessly with Sirius, who was extremely focused on his meal, and Peter, Remus and Frank discussed their weekend study schedules. Finally, the owls started to fly in. It was James who was first to notice something strange about them.

"They're all carrying the same letter!" he proclaimed as the owls searched around for their owners.

"Not all of them," Remus noted, trying to get a better look. They all twitched when a flock of owls swooped down over them, dropping letters into about half of their hands. James, Frank, Sirius, Parvati, Holly and Alice each stared at the letters before them, Sirius letting out a loud curse word. Alice questioned this, until she realized. These weren't regular letters. These letters were black. Appropriately.

Parvati was the first to open her letter. Noticing that none of the others were jumping in, she began to real aloud:

_"You are cordially invited to the engagement party of Mr. Lucius Malfoy and Ms. Narcissa Black. All purebloods welcome. All blood relatives required."_ She went on to read the dress code and location of the party.

"Required?" Alice asked.

"There's a curse on the family," James told her, looking rather annoyed. "Every time there's an engagement party, those who don't go supposedly have a curse placed on their children, born or not."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Sure, but people are too superstitious to deny it."

Alice looked at Sirius, who was still fuming. "But…I've never had to go to one of these before!" Sirius looked up at her in surprise.

"Sure you have…you were just too small to remember it. At least, I know I did…I think I was about three."

"We estranged ourselves from the family when I was five!" Alice realized.

"Makes sense," Sirius agreed. "Anyways, you haven't gone to any more because there haven't been any upstanding pureblood engagements in the family since then." He let out a small noise, realizing something. "Funny that Narcissa's getting married before Bellatrix. I thought Lestrange would have proposed ages ago."

"How could Lucius have proposed if he hasn't even been with Narcissa to do it?" Alice asked.

"Well, you don't propose it to the girl. You propose to the family."

"How awful!" Lily interjected.

"So…" Alice began, "you're all relatives of the Black family?" She eyed Frank first, curiously.

"Only by marriage," he told her, "and _way_ back. Now we're just considered very good friends of the family."

"I'm not either. Just Sirius, really," James said. "These are sent out to every pureblood, I think. Right, Sirius?"

"Yeah…" Sirius fumed.

"So…do I really have to go to this?" Alice was asking, when another owl swooped overhead. A letter dropped into her hands. "It's from my parents!" she announced.

"Maybe you don't have to go after all," Parvati told her. Alice read the letter out loud.

_"Alice, we realize that you must have heard about the engagement party by now. You must go. Under no circumstances will we allow you to avoid it, as even if the curse is not real, the family is still one of the most powerful in the Wizarding world. We suggest that you go with a friend rather than us, so as not to be a complete outsider. We will see you there. Mum."_

"Who do you suppose you'll go with?" Holly asked, always being the first to ask about such things.

"Well, I don't think it means it as a date, exactly."

"You could go with me," Frank offered. "I could tell my mum we're dating. She'd be thrilled."

"You mean…she doesn't know about-"

"You honestly think I'd tell her?" Frank asked, looking almost amused. Alice considered the offer carefully. It would be strange to pretend to be with Frank that way, but it would take a lot of heat off of both of them. Then she thought about Severus. Even if she did want to go with him, he would probably not accept the offer.

"Sure," she told Frank, who exhaled.

"Thank goodness. I can imagine what my mum'll do. Hell, she probably throw an engagement party for us!" He noticed Alice's horrified look. "I'm obviously kidding, Alice." The rest of the table laughed at her.

"Either way, you'll have to help me out with this. I mean…I have no idea how these engagements work!"

"Don't worry," Sirius told her. "After so long, I'm not sure that anybody does."

"Okay…but…how important is it? What do I wear to it?"

"Oh, we'll help you with that!" Parvati told her, sharing a strange glance with Holly. Alice was instantly terrified. What had she gotten herself into?

--

Author's Notes: The next chapter should come pretty fast, considering I have so many ideas for it. Be excited…it's one of the best ideas I've had in a while! As far as other stuff goes, what do you think? This chapter is basically my exposition/set up the story/get some action up in this joint chapter, so I really hope you liked it!

Next Chapter: What will happen at the engagement party? Will Alice and her family be able to fit in and not cause a ruckus? How will Severus react to the entire situation? How will Narcissa? Find out in the next chapter of: Camaraderie!


	6. The Party: Part One

Camaraderie

Narcissa and Lucius' engagement party was to take place the next evening at Grimmuald Place. Alice knew she must have been there before, and assumed that it was when she was three years old (as Sirius told her), but she could not remember anything about the building. All she knew was the address, which she was forced to memorize in order to be able to see the building.

The morning of the party (a Sunday), Alice had looked all over the school and grounds for Severus, but she could not seem to find him anywhere. She had even attempted asking Regulas Black, who simply glared at her and walked away. She couldn't understand why Severus seemed to be avoiding her: she only wanted to ask if he was attending. She assumed he would…he was probably related to the Black's himself. There was a slight resemblance.

Giving up her search around noon that day, Alice returned to her dorm to finish some Transfiguration homework with Lily. The engagement party wouldn't start until around seven that evening, so she decided that she wouldn't yet have to worry about what she would wear. That is, she wasn't worried until Holly and Parvati entered from the bathroom, each wearing an elaborate set of curlers in their hair. Noticing her immediately, they gasped.

"Alice!" Parvati said in what could be described as none other than a loud shriek.

"What are you _doing?"_ Holly stated what Parvati couldn't seem to. Lily rolled her eyes at the two girls.

"Come on, guys, the party's not until seven."

"Yes…but…she has to at least start!" Each word seemed difficult for Parvati. Alice raised an eyebrow.

"What are you…talking about?"

"Alice-" Holly said her name with a sigh, "-you need to get ready for the engagement party!"

"This early?"

"You have been spending far too much time with Lily!"

"Hey, don't you pull me into this!"

"Well, you're not exactly the best influence in _supporting our purposes."_

"What purposes?" Alice asked, a look of half amusement on her face at the ridiculousness of the conversation.

"Our purposes," Parvati told her, "of making one of you look half decent for once!"

"Hey-" Lily tried to interject, but Holly didn't let her.

"Neither of you have dressed up once since we met you. Now Alice, for you this isn't as big a deal, since we've barely met you, but Lily hasn't dressed up since the Yule ball three years ago!"

"As far as you've seen."

"When was the last time, then?"

"Um…well, I'm sure-"

"Uh huh. Now, Alice, you're the one going to this party with us tonight. You want to look good, don't you?"

"Well…does it really matter?" Alice wasn't sure if she felt that she needed to make the best impression on the Black family.

"Yes. Come on…don't you just want to stick it to 'em and their old fashioned ways?" Holly asked Alice.

"Never say that again," Lily joked. Alice noticed, however, that she did not seem to be in good humour.

"Aren't you-" Alice almost asked Lily why she wasn't going to the party, but stopped herself. This was in vain, however, as Lily knew exactly what was coming. She sighed.

"Nah. Wouldn't want to, anyway. I'll just have to be my stylish self here in the dorm." The girls giggled half heartedly as Lily left, leaving them to Alice's makeover.

"So, Alice, what are you thinking?" Holly asked her.

"What do you mean?"

"You know…chic, classy, a little spicy, perhaps?" Parvati clarified, waving a hairbrush with a flourish.

"Spicy?"

"Well, you _do_ have a date tonight-"

"You mean Frank? But we're just fooling his mum-"

"It's still a date, though. Besides, we want you to be convincing."

"No spicy. Please."

"Fine. No spicy."

"What do you want, then?" Holly asked.

"Um…something…just…something."

"You're so articulate."

"I've never done this before!"

"And we're _trying_ to help you. To little avail, I might add."

"Well…what if I don't want to look good? What if I just want to…fade into-"

Alice was sure the scream that came from the two girl's mouths would be heard all over the Gryffindor Tower.

"You, my dear," Parvati began after taking a deep breath, "will not fade into the background. Trust me."

_"I'm not sure I do," _Alice thought, bracing herself for the worst.

--

"Looking spiffy, aren't we, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Looking bitter, aren't we Mr. Black?"

Sirius entered the room with the grimmest face Frank had ever seen in his life. He knew exactly why it was there, too. Sirius had estranged himself from the Black family only a short time before, and yet he being forced to attend an engagement party just due to a superstition that no one really believed. He had been sent an entirely black set of dress robes from his mother for the occasion, along with the rudest note Frank thought she could think up without being explicitly horrible. He himself had been sent a package from his mother containing an equally dark pair of dress robes, but with much more flare, so as to stand out at the party. Frank wasn't sure he liked the idea of standing out at first, but soon realized that he would no matter what.

Why, oh why had he made the mistake of asking Alice Ashby to the party? Everybody knew that the guests were more eager to see Alice there than Narcissa, even!

"Is James ready yet?" Sirius asked as he plopped down on his bed.

"Yeah, he's just in the washroom."

"Remus and Peter?"

"Library. Homework."

"Oh. Good." Sirius laid his head down on his pillow.

"Careful, you might ruin your hair," Frank told him with a small grin.

"Bugger that."

"I see that bad attitudes run in the family-"

"Be quiet, Frank." Frank shrunk. Humour equaled: not a good idea. He would remember this for the party. A glance at the clock told Frank that it was now six fifteen. "James, the carriages are leaving soon!" He almost felt odd saying it. So many students were going to the party that the school had turned it into a sort of event, and even offered transport for the students. It all seemed silly to him. What about the people who couldn't go? How did they feel?

James exited the bathroom swiftly, and immediately ran his hand over his slicked back hair. "How do I look, men?"

"Dumb as a rod."

"Just what I was going for," James said as he rolled his eyes. The boys left the dorm soon after that and waited in the Common Room for the girls.

"So, who are you guys taking?" Frank asked the other two.

"Well, Parvati _insists_ that I'm her date," James told him, "Trying to renew our Yule Ball adventure, I guess. But _just as friends _this times. Like I didn't know."

"I guess that leaves me with Holly," Sirius gritted his teeth at the words.

"Well, she's not that bad. She's…" Frank searched for word to describe Holly, "…spirited."

"Overbearing, more like. Besides, who are you to talk? You get the fake date."

"Like that's any better. I've gotta trick my mum."

"Sure, but at least your date is somewhat normal…if not a little freaked out," James added, noting her nervousness. A moment passed as the boys waited in silence.

"Where are they?" It was quite clear that Sirius was getting frustrated. Suddenly, Frank saw something from the corner of his eye.

"There- there they are."

The three girls made their way down the stairs as slowly as possible. Alice was in between Parvati and Holly, and she looked utterly bewildered. Bewildered, it was clear, but lovely. She had been dressed in dark purple, which brought out the reddish colour of her hair - which had been tied up into a curly bun - extremely well. The thing that was most noticeable, however, was her face. Her brown eyes looked almost golden, accentuated by dark shadows. She nervously wiped away an eyelash, her hands and arms covered with long black gloves. She was still the plain, simple Alice, Frank noted, but tonight she was stunning.

"How do we look?" Holly enquired, never one to shy away from a compliment.

"You all look fine. Now let's go!" Sirius had already begun to leave. Parvati and Holly's jaws dropped in offence to his statement, but followed obediently. James and Frank gave each other an amused glance before catching their partners and offering their arms. The girl's took them, Alice extremely nervously.

--

The group got to the engagement party at exactly seven o'clock. There was a stampede as all of the Hogwarts students attending rushed out of their carriages to the doorway of Grimmuald Place, which appeared soon after they thought about the address. Alice immediately spotter her parents, who seemed to be waiting for her.

"There they are," she told the others. "You guys can go in…I'm going to go talk to them for a minute." The rest of the group left, except for Frank, who remained beside her. "You can go in, you know. You don't need to-"

"It's alright," he told her. "I want to."

"Okay…" Alice led Frank to her parents, who seemed unaltered by his presence.

"Mum, this is-"

"Frank Longbottom." Susan recognized him. Frank nodded, confirming her suspicion. "It's very nice to see you, dear."

"You too," Frank replied.

"So…should we go in?" Alice asked.

"You two go, we'll be up in a few moments," her father decided. Alice nodded and turned, Frank following behind her. Alice stared at the house, her sparkling eyes wide.

"You okay?" Frank asked her.

"What? Oh…yeah, I'm fine. At least, I think I'm fine."

"You know, you don't have to do this. Pretend to be my date, I mean."

"Sure I do. I…Frank, you're good. You don't care that you're dating…" she trailed off, giving him a look that he recognized as saying, 'a muggle', "But your mother does. I don't mind. I just like having the company."

"Thanks."

The pair slowly made their way up the steps to the front door of the building, where a tall wizard was standing.

"Names?" he inquired.

"Frank Longbottom and Alice Ashby." Alice was relieved that Frank had decided to be the one to speak.

"Ashby, eh?" the doorman reiterated.

"Yes," Alice confirmed, a shake in her voice.

"Hm," he said, looking her up and down. "Well, go on in, then."

The doors opened, revealing the interior of the House. The two entered to find a staircase leading down into a huge ballroom. Alice suddenly cowered. It felt as if every eye had turned to her, and yet time didn't stop. She was being watched. It was the most horrible thing she had ever felt. She couldn't understand how the music could keep playing if the world had frozen, seeing everything she was doing at that moment, waiting for her to make one critical mistake-

"Take my arm," she suddenly heard from beside her. Frank had edged his elbow out towards her. She looked at him to find a warm smile. Slowly, she laced her arm through his, and the pair made their way down the stairs. Slowly, all of the faces that were turned towards her turned away, and continued with their own conversations, unaware of the world surrounding them. They were the most elaborately dressed crowd Alice had ever seen in her life, each seeming to have made their best effort for the occasion. The two finally found their way to their friends, who welcomed them to the refreshments table James seemed to have discovered.

"Well, you certainly make an entrance, don't you, Alice?" James asked through a tart he was chewing.

"Oh, Alice, you're so lucky!" Parvati beamed at her, still hanging off of James' arm. "Everybody was looking at you!"

"I suppose that means we did a good job," Holly said from beside Sirius, who looked utterly unamused.

"Come on, Alice," Frank pulled her lightly in the opposite direction, "Why don't you meet Mum."

"Okay…" Alice followed his lead, suddenly nervous as to what she would find upon the meeting. After a short walk, Frank had finally seemed to find his mother, who rushed over to hug him. Noticing Alice, she sprung forward to shake her hand.

"My dear, are you Alice Ashby?" Alice took her eyes off of Mrs. Longbottom's eclectic hat before answering with a small nod. "Now, am I to understand that you are the most powerful witch in the Wizarding World? Oh, how wonderful! And in our own family-"

"They're not really _our_ family, Mum-"

"Oh hush, Frank, I'm introducing myself." Alice was taken aback by the swift way the women spoke. She continued, still holding onto Alice's hand. "Oh, aren't you such a pretty little thing. You go with my Frank- oh, Frank, did you starch your collar properly?"

"Yes, mum."

"Well, let me fix it for you." And with a wave of her hand (which she finally removed from Alice's), Frank's mother made his collar lift into the perfect shape. "As I was saying," she continued, to Frank's clear embarrassment, "You two look wonderful together. Now- wait…Frank, is it- does this mean-" she let out a loud laugh of glee, "-are you dating Alice here? Oh, how marvelous!"

Frank then gave one of the most contrived smiles Alice had ever seen as his mother kissed him on the cheek. "This is too wonderful. We might have another good marriage after all! Isn't that right, Alice?"

"Mum…"

"You are dating my Frank, aren't you, dear?"

Frank was about to interject, but Alice had already planted a smile on her face. Frank instantly held back, watching for what she would do.

"Yes, Mrs. Longbottom, I am."

Frank stared at her.

"Terrific! Now, dear, have you given it any thought? I know how your parents estranged themselves, but that doesn't mean that you should also be separated from your own family-"

"Mum!"

"Oh, yes, Frank, I know you're right. You just give it some thought, then, Alice. Don't rush yourself. And stay with my Frank here. As you can see, he is a wonderful boy, sure to conceive many good children-"

_"Mum, stop!"_

"Fine. You two have fun now." With that she left, swishing her long coat behind her.

"I am - _so_ - sorry. I don't know wha-"

"Don't worry about it." Alice still had a look of pure shock on her face from the encounter. Frank continued apologizing.

"She just gets like that - she's really tradition, you know. She can be very rude about things sometimes-"

"She wasn't that bad," Alice told him. "She was actually very sweet."

"Well, I suppose she can be, sometimes…but Merlin, Alice, you were fantastic! I didn't know you could lie like that! Why, I might have thought you were one of the Marauders, the way you were acting!"

"The Marauders?" Frank instantly quieted.

"Oh, nothing. Never mind."

"Okay…" Alice nodded, a confused look now on her face. She decided to begin a new topic. "I can't believe your mother is so sweet, actually, with everything I hear about your family and werewolves."

"Werewolves? Oh, right…"

"Yes, I expected her to be much meaner, almost, I suppose-"

As Alice spoke to him about her impressions of his mother, all Frank could seem to think about was how he had given up the information about the Marauders. His memories of his conversation with Remus swarmed back to him, and he began to remember how angry he was when he found out that Remus was a werewolf, and how it had turned him against his family's beliefs, unbeknownst to them. He didn't know why he was remembering all of these things, but stopped immediately, when Alice spoke to him. "Frank, are you alright?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied. "I'm alright."

"Well," she decided, taking a deep breath, "I suppose you should introduce me to the rest of the family, then."

Offering his arm, Frank led Alice to next guest.

--

Author's Notes: It's a bit shorter than I promised, but Part 2 is on its way soon. How' do you like this chapter so far? What do you think of party? I'm so glad that I got to add a bit of humour into this chapter, before the real action starts. And believe me, it's about to start very soon…

Next Chapter: Who else does Alice get to meet? Will she find Severus at the party? How will Narcissa react to seeing her there? What will happen when Alice is pressured to join the family? What will happen when the party's over? Find out in the next installment of: Camaraderie.


	7. The Party: Part Two

Camaraderie

Alice walked through the grand Ballroom with Frank, her eyes darting in every direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of Severus. She didn't know why it was so important for her to see him there. She supposed she just wanted confirmation of his character - he was a true pureblood, and an appropriate friend to Narcissa. Alice then noticed that she had not yet seen Narcissa at the party either, but did not dwell on that. In fact, she hoped that she would not have to the entire night. She had not yet spoken to Narcissa, and she knew she wasn't excited about having to again. It was at that moment that Frank shook Alice's arm.

"Look over there!" he whispered. "I forgot she'd be here!"

Alice looked where Frank was pointing, and saw a woman in her twenties holding the hand of a very small child with shockingly pink hair. Both were dressed very differently from the rest of the guests - they were in muggle clothing. Nice muggle clothing, but still very unique from the other guests. Alice knew the woman looked familiar, although she wasn't sure why.

"Who are they?" she asked Frank quietly.

"The mother is your cousin - Andromeda Tonks. She married a muggle. I guess she's still afraid of the curse, though."

Alice nodded. "Afraid of Narcissa, more like." It was then that Frank burst out into laughter, taking Alice by complete surprise.

"Nice one, Alice!" Alice couldn't help but smile. She wasn't much of a comedian.

"Who is the girl?"

"That's her daughter…I don't know her name. I haven't seen Andromeda for years…must have been at least two, anyway…"

Alice watched her apparent cousin with interest, and couldn't help feeling surprised when she saw Sirius bounding towards her. Andromeda welcomed him with a warm hug. After breaking free of her grasp, Sirius reached down to pick up the little girl.

"Yep, there's Sirius. Andromeda was always his favourite cousin. He still sees her every now and then." Frank looked over at Alice, who was still watching the pair closely. "Come on," he told her, and began to drag Alice towards them.

Sirius was the first to notice them. He said something Alice couldn't hear to Andromeda and then pointed to them for the girl. Andromeda seemed only to notice Frank at first.

"This couldn't be Frank Longbottom!" she said with a grin, enveloping him in her arms. Frank laughed as he returned the hug. "And who is this?" she asked, looking to Alice.

"This is your cousin." It was Sirius who told her.

"Alice Ashby?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. Yes Ma'am." Alice held out her hand.

"Don't you be calling me Ma'am - it makes me sound so old." Alice chuckled. "You come here." With that, Andromeda grabbed Alice and hugged her also. Breaking the hug, she looked very closely at Alice. "I must have been eleven the last time I saw you. You couldn't have been bigger than Nymphadora."

"Nymphadora?" Alice inquired. Sirius gave the little girl a shake, making her laugh loudly. He looked at Alice.

"This is Nymphadora," he told her.

"How old is she?"

"Why doesn't she tell you? Nymphadora -" he got the girl's attention, "-how old are you?" Nymphadora began to think very hard, and Alice was shocked when her hair turned from pink to a bright orange.

"Four," she finally said, her hair turning back to pink.

"Good job, Dora!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Her hair-" Alice began, shocked.

"Oh yes," Andromeda said, "pink. Flavour of the month."

"She's a metamorphmagus."

"And don't think she doesn't use it to her advantage. Now Alice, your parents aren't here, are they?"

"What?" Alice stopped looking at Nymphadora. "Oh…oh, yeah, they are. They're somewhere around here."

"Well," Andromeda said, taking Nymphadora from Sirius, "I suppose I should go and say hello to them. It was wonderful seeing you, Alice." Andromeda suddenly had a very serious look on her face, and her eyes dug into Alice's strangely. She seemed to have a moment of shock before breaking eye contact quickly, her face becoming pleasant once again.

"You too," Alice finally replied, a solemn look on her face.

Andromeda nodded to Sirius and Frank before leaving.

"Something wrong?" Frank asked her.

"Not really," Alice told him, shaking her head. "It's just…why does she want to talk to my parents?"

"She said it was just to say hello," Sirius told Alice.

"Yes…but people never say what they mean."

Frank and Sirius both looked oddly at Alice, who was still staring at Andromeda.

"Isn't she great?" Sirius finally asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, she is," Alice agreed. Suddenly, she felt another nudge from beside her.

"I think we've had our fun for the night. Alice, it's time for you to meet someone not quite as nice as Andromeda." It was at that moment that Alice knew something was wrong about the woman coming towards them, and the look on Sirius' face beside her made it clear exactly who she was.

Alice was finally going to see Aunt Walburga again.

--

Author's Notes: I know that this chapter is ridiculously short. I've had so little time to write lately, so I really just wanted to produce something to let you all know that I am DEFINITELY not abandoning this story. So yeah, look out for the next chapters. They're all planned, the only problem will be actually writing them out!


	8. The Party: Part Three

Camaraderie

There was an immediate tension that seemed to fill up the space between the teenagers and Walburga Black. Sirius frantically searched around him, as if looking for a suitable excuse to avoid his mother before she arrived, but the woman moved swiftly, and Sirius did not have a chance to get away. When she was at least two feet away, she began to speak, and her considerably far distance still made her seem uncomfortably close. Before Walburga began to speak, Alice heard Sirius whisper, "Wait for it. Just wait for it," under his breath.

"Alice." The woman's voice could be called no more than a low breath that seemed to draw on for ages. Alice immediately felt as if she was standing beneath a microscope, every fraction of her being examined for its worthiness. She could barely contain her need to shiver under the pressure of it all, and before she could say a word Walburga continued speaking. "Yes…I'd recognize you anywhere. You do look so much like your mother." The way Walburga said mother was so disdainful that Alice could feel the chill in the air. Walburga finally held out her hand to Alice. "You do know who I am, do you not, Alice?"

"Of course I do," Alice replied, trying to hide her terror. She slowly gripped the offered hand, and almost immediately after, Walburga let go.

"Frank, I just spoke to your parents. I was telling your father how impressed I am with his advancements on Werewolf Registration. The better marked they are, the more safe we are from them. I don't think any upstanding Pureblood could disagree, do you?" Alice patiently awaited Frank's answer, intensely curious.

"No," he said, putting on a smirk, "no _upstanding_ Pureblood."

"You're a good boy. I hope your teaching my niece to think as you do." Walburga's eyes finally reached Sirius. Alice knew she had only been holding off to add to his discomfort. "Sirius, darling, how is the Potter house?"

"Brilliant," Sirius answered, with the least amount of emotion Alice had ever seen him with. "Completely brilliant."

"I see. Oh, and here comes James now. I'll have to go speak with his parents." Walburga waited for Sirius to answer, but when none came, she said her goodbyes the most tastefully smug way she could manage. As she left, James reached the group.

"You guys sure make yourselves scarce. How'd that go?"

"I hate her," Sirius muttered. "I just _hate_ her."

"Yeah, well, I don't think it's that hard," Frank told him. He turned to Alice. "So, what do you think of the Black family so far?"

"Well, I can see why everyone in the room is keeping their distance from her."

"Yeah. Especially from her mouth," Frank agreed.

"Although," Sirius interjected, "that could just be her waist…it's like a protective ring from her face." James laughed at this, while Frank simply glanced at Alice, a twinkle in his eye. Alice was still eyeing the woman as Sirius and James got into a comical discussion.

"What's on your mind?" Frank asked.

"What she said about the Werewolf Registry…how do you suppose their being marked?"

"Frankly, Alice, I wish I _didn't_ know the answer to that question." Alice gave Frank a look that told him to continue speaking. "It's pretty brutal…okay, really brutal. They're burning their registration numbers onto them."

"But…won't the numbers wear off eventually?"

"They've found a way around that, actually. They're going to do it…with silver." Alice could think of no words to express her shock, and instead just stared at Frank. As she did, Frank once again felt his memories of Remus swarming back to him. He felt a touch of pain at his temple and reached his hand up to it. As soon as he did, the memories and the pain ceased. "Merlin," he said to Alice, "just being here is giving me a headache."

As soon as Frank said this, a loud chorus of Fanfare rang out among the crowd. A man that Frank whispered to Alice was Cygnus Black (Narcissa's father) led a line of those involved in the engagement party (a line including Narcissa, Lucius and their immediate families) to a Head Table, raised up on a large platform. After all were seated, Cygnus stood from near the center of the table and placed his wand against his neck. He muttered a spell, and suddenly his voice could be heard by the entire crowd.

"Dear family, friends," he greeted the room. "As you know, you have been invited here as a celebration of the first Pureblood engagement within the Black family in fourteen years. It involves the union of my daughter, Narcissa Violetta Black-" Narcissa's face remained stone-like, "-and Lucius Dracus Malfoy-" Lucius could not look more pleased with himself beside Narcissa, "-I could not be more proud." As Cygnus sat down, a man who Alice was told was Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius' father, stood up.

"I, too, could not be happier that my son has chosen such a beautiful and true witch for his wife-" Alice heard a snigger that seemed to come from Sirius, "-I can only thank the powers that be for helping this young wizard and witch to find each other, and cannot even fathom how fine my grandchild will be. I cannot think of two Purebloods who deserve each other more."

As the crowd applauded, Alice could clearly hear Sirius whisper to James behind her, "That's for sure." When the crowd finally quieted, Abraxas continued speaking. While he did so, those seated at the Table stood and made their way in front of the table, standing in a line before the crowd.

"Before we proceed with dinner, I ask that you all to come up to the Head Table and congratulate the two families that will be joining into one. Keeping with old customs, you are to place a kiss on either side of each family member's face, so to show your love and appreciation for them." Almost immediately, the crowd began to form a line next to the platform, and one by one they took their turns congratulating the families. Alice and her friends were pushed into the line, it seeming to be illegal to not be a part of it. Looking back, she saw her parents not far behind her, and her mother gave her an important look, as if to tell her not to deny the rules.

As Alice got closer to the front of the line, all she could hear were the booming sounds of congratulations and Sirius complaints about having to touch his family. Finally, she had reached the first family member - it was Lucius mother. She did as she had been told, placing a kiss on each of the woman's cheeks, and Alice could not help but notice how deeply the woman was eyeing her, as if she knew exactly who Alice was. This continued all the way down the line, Alice feeling considerably more uncomfortable with each member of the families. Finally, she reached Narcissa…who did nothing. Alice was shocked when Narcissa merely allowed herself to be congratulated, seeming to have no emotion but boredom. After Narcissa's parents, Alice met Andromeda again, who had been forced into the line, and gave Alice an amused look as she was congratulated. Finally, Alice reached the end of the line: Bellatrix. Alice had absolutely no memory of Bellatrix, but knew she had a reputation for being quite intense. As Alice placed a kiss on each of Bellatrix' cheeks, she was sure she heard, "Stay away from my family, you mudded disgrace," but when she looked at Bellatrix, the smile the dark woman wore seemed to completely go against what she had just said…or seemed to have said, at least. Alice walked down the other side of the platform and met Frank.

"Well," he said, shrugging, "maybe the food will be good, at least."

--

Author's Notes: Yes, I know, another fairly short chapter, but at least the party scene is finally finished. I'm sorry it's taking so long to update…I'm so swamped right now it's ridiculous. But don't worry…this story has a killer plot, and it will happen, I promise. It'll just take some time. Oh yeah, and I think that this is the size I'm going to use for chapters from now on, unless I get some crazy inspiration. It gets my point across while keeping to the main plot. I like it. Anyways, keep reading, and leave me your comments with the review button!


	9. Legilimens

Camaraderie

The lake. Alice went every day after class, sitting by the tree Severus and her used to frequent. For a week Severus had not spoken to Alice, had not paid her any attention whatsoever. She would almost be offended if she thought that they were friends. Because Alice and Severus were not friends. She had said to all of her dorm mates, letting them know that they had no feelings for each other, only those of a study duo. So why did Alice care so much? What made Severus so special to her? Why did he matter to her at all?

They were equals. Alice answered her own question by the lake the Sunday morning a week from the party. Severus was the only person Alice could speak with about homework, potions, magic in general – and he would truly understand. He could even argue against her point, but his was the only one she knew that could – that would always – be valid. They learned from one another. Even when they argued, they respected each other's opinions, because they knew that each one had an idea of what they were talking about. But that was all. They were only friends on an intellectual plane, apart from their social... status. Alice knew that she found Severus easier to talk to because, like her, he was an outsider. Of course, they both had friends, though Alice knew that hers cared much more for her than Sev's did for him. This made it simple for Alice to talk to him... that is, about anything but herself. When it came to actually opening up, it would be impossible. Not that they would ever really-

"Hello."

Alice looked up from the textbook she wasn't reading. Severus stood over her, watching. Alice didn't know how long he had been watching.

"Hello," she responded, a little shocked.

"You're here."

"Yes."

"You're here now."

"As opposed to any other time, yes." Alice really didn't know how to reply.

"You've been reading the same page for a while now."

"Just trying to let it really sink in." A moment. "Want to sit?"

"Yes. I suppose." But Severus didn't sit. "You didn't know I was here?"

"No."

"You always know what I'm thinking. All the time. It's really annoying." Severus seemed – almost – angry. Angrier than Alice had seen him.

"I'm sorry?"

Severus took a deep break, but sat down next to Alice, not looking at her. Alice, dumbstruck, flipped a page. Needing to speak, she asked:

"You weren't at the party?"

"You're surprised?"

"It just seemed rather bold of you. Not to show up."

"You don't _know _why?"

"No."

"You never thought to find out. You could see anything and you never even thought to..."

"Did you and Narcissa have a falling out?" Alice guessed.

"What?"

"I thought you may have fought with her, and perhaps you were uninvited-"

"I'm a half-blood."

"Oh."

Silence.

"You didn't know?"

"No."

"Didn't you wonder?"

"No."

Pause.

"Do you care?"

"No."

A look. They turn back away.

"You never thought to check?"

"No."

"Unbelievable. Unbelievable!"

"I don't know what you're-"

"You could see anything. You could find out anything you wanted. You did. But that – that you never even thought to find out."

"Severus, why-?"

"You never considered the fact that I might _not _be pureblooded. You, who can _read minds!_ You could have used your Legilimens and found out whatever you wanted-"

Alice felt as though she should run away. Her heart pounded. Her mind raced. She had no clue what she should do. What she should say.

"I don't know what you're talking about Severus."

"Yes, you do!"

"I know what Legilimens is, yes, but of course I can't-"

"Yes! You can! You do!"

"I don't-"

"You do, I know you do-"

"I don't read yours."

Break. The fight ended immediately.

"What?"

"I don't read yours. Not anymore."

"But you have?"

"A few times. Not for a long time."

"Why not?"

"I want you to tell me yourself."

"Why? Because you're in love with me? Because you're obsessed with me... or something like that?" This was when Severus looked at Alice.

Alice looked shocked.

"Of course not. Who said that?"

"Narcissa."

"Well, she's wrong. I just find what you say interesting, and I want to hear it from you instead of... taking it from you."

Severus turns away. He breathes.

"I was... hoping she was wrong."

"Well, she is."

"Good." Severus sighed. "So you are a Legilimens?"

"Yes."

"Is it difficult?" Alice pondered the question. "Not for you." Severus realized.

"Not for me," she admitted.

"I understand."

It took Alice a moment to speak again. "Why have you avoided me?"

Severus went silent for a few seconds. He stood up, barely looking at her. His response surprised Alice. "Did it hurt you?" he asked. He was not asking to be cruel or sarcastic. He meant it.

"No, of course not. It just... it confused me."

"I wasn't angry. I was just frustrated that I didn't know what you were doing. I was frustrated."

"I was just confused."

Both nodded, synchronized.

"Will you teach me?"

"What?"

"Will you teach me how to do it?"

"Well, I don't know..."

"I could do it. You know I could do it."

"Well, yes, but..." Alice was still sitting. She felt incredibly vulnerable at this moment, though she didn't know why.

"I can learn. You could teach me. You'd be a good teacher." A compliment. Alice was taken aback.

"I'll... I'll think about it."

"Alright." Severus turned to leave.

"Wait-" Alice stopped him, finally standing.

"Yes?" Severus responded, not turning back.

"If I decide... not to teach you... will you tell?"

Severus turned. He almost looked surprised. "Will I tell them your secret?"

"Yes." Her eyes begged for an answer for a moment too long.

"I won't hurt you." He left. Alice sat down and watched as he left. When he was gone, she got up and went back to the Gryffindor dorm. The entire conversation was minutes of pure surprise. Severus Snape was a half-blood. Severus Snape knew she was a Legilimens. Severus Snape wanted to learn from her. Severus Snape would not hurt her. It was not a real promise, but it was the closest the two would get. It was a great comfort to have, despite their... non-relationship.

But what did he care about hurting her? What did he care about her at all?

--

Author's Note:

I'm back! That is all. Let me know what you think!


	10. No Hard Feelings

Camaraderie

Alice sat in the Gryffindor common room that evening, and for the first time in a while, she was not doing homework. The other seventh years were crowded around the couches, still telling stories about the engagement party a week before. James stood, performing his impressions.

"And then there's Narcissa, strutting around like she's the only person of _any _importance-"

"Well, it was _her _engagement party," Lily noted.

"She was hardly the star of the show. Our Alice, in fact, took everyone's attention pretty easily." Alice shook her head frantically.

"No, I didn't." Laughter from the gang. Alice pondered whether they laughed with her or at her. Frank, who was with the group (another rare occurance), simply grinned at her. A good friend, Alice thought. He got up and sat on the couch next to her.

"I thought I showed you a pretty good time, if I do say so myself," he said to her as the group continued in their own conversation.

"You did. Your girlfriend should be very jealous." Frank laughed softly.

"I wrote her another letter..."

"Without me? I'm impressed."

"I told her I loved her." Alice smiled immediately.

"That _is _exciting."

Frank, though, looked nervous. "I haven't gotten anything back yet, though. I'm... worried, I guess."

"Muggle post is much slower than Wizarding post." Frank didn't look any more relieved. "How did you say it?"

"Well, I would have asked your opinion, but you weren't around, and I was frantic. So I wrote 'Love, Frank' at the end of the letter."

"That's hardly anything. She probably didn't even notice much." Alice told Frank this to calm him, though she really had no authority on the topic. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine."

"I'm sure you're right," Frank lied. Alice knew. She took a moment to take in her surroundings. James was joking around, Lily was pretending not to laugh, Frank was finally looking a little less pale, the girls were all giggling, Peter was howling and Sirius was inserting his own gags. And then there was Remus, who was staring intently at Alice. Alice gave him a small smile, not knowing how exactly to react. She considered checking, looking into his mind for an answer, but her conversation with Severus was still fresh in her mind. She didn't feel it was appropriate to infiltrate Remus' thoughts after what she had just been through. Still, why _was _he looking at her in that way? She continued smiling until he noticed her looking back at him. He gave a quick smile back and looked away, taking note his roommates' antics. Alice just sat, confused.

Not long after that it was time for everyone to tuck in for the night. The boys went to their dorm and the girls went to theirs. Gossip was a bedtime tradition.

"Oh, you've really done it now, Lily," Parvati joked. "He'll never leave you alone. You'll just _have _to date him!"

"I don't _have _to date _anyone, _Parvati," Lily hissed back. "He's interested, I _know _he's interested, but I don't want to go out with him. I find him... immature."

"He's funnier when he's around you, anyway. You two should date," Holly decided.

"Thanks for... letting me know." Lily was not amused. "Alice, I haven't heard your opinion on the party." Alice, who was sitting under her covers, shrugged.

"It was nothing too important. I felt... I felt like I was being watched."

"Alice was the _star _of the show. Absolutely," Parvati noted.

"Hardly. But... it was definitely bizarre to have so many people come up to me. I felt sort of like a circus animal. Put on show."

"How was Frank's mum?" Elsbeth asked.

"She was... interesting. She didn't seem to mind Frank and I."

"Mind? She seemed thrilled," Holly told Lily.

"A little, yeah," Alice agreed.

"I guess it is kind of special, if they haven't seen you in so long. How were they with your parents?"

"I didn't notice much," Alice realized. "You know, I think they talked more to me than to either of them. Maybe it's because they still have a chance with me, you know?" Alice did not really know how to answer the question.

"Bed time," Lily instructed, noting Alice's discomfort. Alice gave her an appreciative nod.

"By the way, Alice, what did Snape say to you today?" Holly asked after the lights were all out.

"He finally talked to you?" Lily continued the questioning.

"What?"

"Well, he hasn't spoken to you in a while. You haven't been studying or anything," Holly explained.

"Oh, well he was just asking what I was reading. It was nothing in particular." Alice closed her eyes, hoping the questions would end there. They did, and the girls fell asleep quickly.

--

The next morning, Alice and Lily were the first to awaken, as was the usual circumstance. They weaved around the room, picking out clothes and preparing their hair. The other girls always commented on the fact that even though they were usually the first ones up, they spent the least time trying to look prettier.

"More time for breakfast," Lily would joke.

This morning was fairly quiet. Alice found it a little uncomfortably so. Finally, Lily broke the silence, though the conversation was not the topic Alice hoped for.

"What did Severus really say to you?"

"He just wanted to know what I was doing." It was a lie, of course.

"Did he say why he was mad at you?"

"Did he seem mad at me?" Alice hadn't thought about what her bizarre relationship with Severus looked like to others.

"Well, you two didn't speak for a week. Even when you tried. He seemed a little mad, yeah."

"I wanted to know why he wasn't at the party. He was angry that I didn't know why."

"Oh, because he's a half-blood."

Alice was a little surprised until she realized that of course Lily would know about Severus. They had once been good friends, after all.

"Yes. Because of that."

"He was mad that you didn't know?"

"I didn't think he was mad. I don't think he was." It was a challenge for Alice to skirt around the truth.

"I guess you'd know best." Alice was taken aback by this statement. It was almost as if Lily, who hated Severus, trusted Alice to deal with him herself. "Alice, I wanted to... to apologize. You know how I feel about Severus. But you're smart. You can take care of yourself. I'm sorry I doubted you."

"Lily... you don't have to apologize. It was sweet of you."

"No hard feelings?"

"There never were any."

"Okay."

Breakfast was normal that day.

--

Alice sat by the lake that afternoon, as usual. Today Severus appeared quite immediately, as if there had never been the break in their study sessions. Only today he didn't seem to want to talk about homework at all.

"Did you think about it?" _Right into it,_ Alice thought.

"Yes. But... it was only yesterday that you... asked... you know?"

"I know. I was just wondering."

"So, what are you writing for your Defense essay-?"

"Tell me."

"Sorry?"

"Tell me what I'm thinking."

Alice almost laughed. She really almost burst out laughing at that moment.

"Why?"

"I'm testing you."

"You accused me, remember? Are you having second thoughts."

"Prove it, then. What am I thinking about right now."

"That's not how it works."

"How does it work, then?" Alice sighed, but decided to explain anyway.

"It's not like reading someone's mind. That's different. It's... I can see images from people's lives. More image than thought."

"So... you can read memories?"

"It's more like that, yes. Not exactly, but closer. It's hard to explain."

"Then... tell me something I remember."

"You have to let me in, then."

"Like I could help it. You have full permission to see... just find something to tell me about." If Alice didn't know better, she'd almost think that Severus seemed... excited.

"Okay. Are you ready? I'll go slow so you can... take it in."

"I'm ready."

Alice turned to face Severus, their shoulders squared to each other's. She began her intrusion.

Severus. The same age, in Potions class (of course). He read his textbook. He took out a quill and started to write in it. Alice made some words: use, enemies, and a spell. Sectumsempra.

"Don't look at that." Alice heard Severus.

Alice moved on. It was difficult, as she did not have anything specific she wanted to look for. She noted that it was more difficult to search slowly than at her usual quick pace. She found something. Severus. On the grounds. Watching her by the lake. She heard her name in the background... Narcissa mocking her, probably. Severus mindlessly flipped a page of a textbook he had not been reading. Alice saw herself do the exact same. Narcissa's voice:

"_Of course no one would care if she's alone..."_

"She's not very nice."

Severus voice was real. Alice was thrown from the intrusion. It was easy to skirt back into reality.

"Narcissa, I mean. She's a very mean girl."

"I noticed."

"It hurts, a little. Not like pain... but it's not the most comfortable thing." Severus rubbed his forehead.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I expected it." Severus grinned. "I'll be able to do that. That is, if you'll teach me."

Alice took a final moment to ponder her decision.

"I trust you."

Severus almost laughed.

"Thanks."

"When do you want to start?"

"Tomorrow."

"Okay... where?"

"There's a place I know. A shack. Hidden by the Whomping Willow. Where the werewolf goes to transform."

Alice blinked. "The werewolf?"

"Oh, Alice. You don't need to play coy any longer. I know you know about him."

"About whom?" Of course Alice was lying.

"Remus Lupin. Of course you do."

"I suppose so. Yes," Alice admitted, finally.

"But he only goes there for full moons. He'd never know."

"How do you know?" Alice asked, before he continued.

"Last year... he attacked me. I was following the group of them into the Forest. I went through the passage and he attacked me. James Potter – the dog – he saved me. Dumbledore basically admitted it all last year, after it happened."

"He wouldn't have meant to attack you. He can't control his were-"

"I know that. I have few problems with Remus Lupin, apart from his affiliation with Potter and Black."

"Really?"

"Yes. He's intelligent, and has handled his disease quite well. It's just his choice of friends that bothers me."

"They're my friends, too." Alice didn't know why she said that.

"Well, I have very few problems with you as well, then."

"_Does that make us friends?"_

Alice did not say the last line out loud, though. She merely thought it. There was a long period where neither spoke, and then Severus rose to leave.

"Tomorrow, after your last class. I'll wait by the Willow."

"Tomorrow, then."

Severus left, and Alice thought she could make-out a quiet voice saying, _"Goodnight,"_ as he did so.


	11. Occlumency

Camaraderie

The next evening, Alice's last class finished after Severus'. She left swiftly, before any of her fellow Gryffindors (particularly Lily) could ask where she was headed.

"Hey Alice – oh!" Remus almost seemed to be trying to call her, but she was more than a few feet away, and pretended not to notice. She felt terrible doing it, but for some reason she did not want to leave Severus waiting for her.

She was practically running to the grounds. Finally, she made it within feet of the branches of the Whomping Willow. She heard a voice:

"Need some help?"

"Severus?"

"Yes."

"Where are you?"

"Hold on."

All of a sudden, the tree froze. Alice then saw Severus, his head poking out from a small opening. His hand rested on a knot in the tree.

"Just use the branch to touch this next time. It makes the tree stop moving. That's how you get in."

"I know... I've been here before." Alice walked to the opening and made her way inside. There was a short passageway, after which she could see a light. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"The Shrieking Shack," Severus responded.

"So, that's what they call it."

"Where do you think the 'Shrieking' part comes from?" Severus asked. Alice didn't know if he was trying to make a joke.

"Remus."

"Yeah."

Alice tripped over the divide between the tree passage and the floorboards. Severus quickly grabbed her at the waist, holding her up before she fell. It was the most the two had ever touched. "Sorry," he grumbled after she was standing, taking his hands off of her.

"Thanks," she replied anyway. The two found a pair of seats in the room they found themselves in, one containing only a bed and the seats. Everything appeared to be ripped apart. Alice took one of the seats. Severus pulled one up so he sat directly in front of her. She noted that the two had never sat face to face. Even in the library they would sit on the same side of the table to read from the same book. She didn't know where to start.

"Is it illegal?" Severus asked before Alice could say anything.

"It's not... legal. But there aren't exactly any laws against it. Yet. Not many are accomplished at it enough for the Ministry to really keep tabs on them."

"I don't need to register or anything then, do I, I guess?"

"It is going to take a while. You know that, right?" she asked him before he could continue.

"Of course. I don't expect to learn in one night."

"And... I'm going to start by teaching you Occlumency. That's the-"

"Defense against Legilimency. I know. I've done my research." Alice nodded. She hadn't expected him to show up so prepared.

"I've never taught anyone... anything... before."

"Just tell me what you know. Show me."

This was all a side of Severus that Alice had never seen. That she had never even heard about. In class he never seemed surprised by anything. When they discussed Potions he hardly ever got heated about it. But with this... Severus was excited about this.

"Well, the trick is clearing your mind. Some wizards can even self-edit the truth if necessary, to make it seem like they're not hiding anything."

"Can you do that?"

"I'm better at Legilimency."

"Something you're not very good at... amazing."

"Do you want to learn or not?" Alice was smiling. Severus chuckled. It was almost friendly.

"How do I clear my mind?"

"You just stop thinking. About anything. The trouble is, when somebody is trying to dig into your memories, it'll bring up thoughts and moments that you're not trying to remember. It'll just happen. So, you have to quickly recognize the memory and erase it for the time. It's about instant recognition, so you can race the person trying to see it with you."

"That... makes sense. I suppose."

"It took me a lot of meditation to get where I am with it-"

"You meditated?" Alice was embarassed.

"It helps. Or, at least it helped me. I know it seems a little... odd."

"I should have expected it, I suppose."

Alice changed the subject. "It also helps to keep a pensieve. So you can sort of... ponder old memories. The important ones, anyway. Things you don't want anyone to see. No one would be particularly interested in what you ate for breakfast, for instance."

"Unless you ate something very special, that is. Like Felix Felicis, or Veritaserum."

"Oh, so that's how you stay so thin, is it?" Alice joked. She had no idea how that had come out. It must have been James and his friends rubbing on her, she assumed. But she didn't know how Severus would react. To her surprise, he laughed.

"I never reveal my diet secrets," he said, continuing the jest.

"So," Alice struck them both back into their conversation, "Do you want to try?"

"You're going to go through my mind, and I have to clear out thoughts?"

"To start with, yeah."

"Go ahead."

Alice took a deep breath. "I'll go slow again, so you can see everything." She proceeded to enter his mind. It looked like a room full of a hundred television sets, all playing a different channel. She would respond to moments of conversation, brightly colored images. All of a sudden, she heard a familiar voice: it was Lily's voice.

"_To which I replied, I don't want to wear a dress! I never do. But she thinks I'm some little girl who loves pink and flowers and other... girly things. Like she does. I'm not Parvati! She needs to get over it. She'll survive..."_

Severus and Lily were alone on the grounds. It was winter. They didn't look like they could be any older than fourteen. No one seemed to be around. Lily stood up, circling around the bench Severus sat on. He watched her every movement. Alice noticed that her speech was slurred, which was uncharacteristic for Lily. But, of course, it was because Severus wasn't really paying attention. The image was clear as day, but the voice itself was blurry.

"_Maybe you would look nice in a dress," _Severus said to her absently. Lily walked up to him and leaned over so they were face to face.

"_Are you saying you want to see me in a dress, Severus?" _She wasn't flirting, but it definitely seemed to make Severus a little less composed than before. In the distance, Alice felt as if she could hear Severus speaking to _her,_ but now she was interested in the memory, and had blocked out the real world.

"_I'm saying you should give something a chance, for once. Trust somebody."_

"_I already _do_ trust somebody. I trust you."_

"_Well, trust somebody else for a change. I'm tired of making your decisions for you." _ Lily laughed loudly at the joke. Severus smiled at his accomplishment. Lily sat next to him.

"_It wouldn't matter anyway – it's winter. Nobody wears dresses in winter. Too cold."_

"_I think I could handle it..."_

The sound of laughter faded instantly as the entire memory blurred. Alice felt herself being pushed away from it. The real world came into focus as she allowed herself to leave Severus' mind.

"You pushed me out. Instead of blanking your mind. You tossed me away. Impressive," she complimented him. Severus' face was entirely red, she noticed, and he looked embarassed.

"You didn't listen to me. I told you to leave, and you didn't listen," he said to her. She blushed.

"I'm... sorry. I couldn't hear you." Severus folded his arms. In any other situation, Alice thought he would have left. She half-expected him to yell at her. Instead he simply glared. He wanted to keep learning, it seemed.

"It's different when I know what you're doing. I can push you out, because you have a form. Now that I know you're in there."

"That's the trick. Awareness." Severus looked troubled for a moment.

"I don't want to... to see her. I see the memories too, you know."

"Of course I know." Alice felt almost rude saying it. "I didn't think it would matter."

"It does. I don't want to think about her anymore."

"I'm sorry, Severus."

"You didn't know."

Well, Alice did know, a little. Only she wouldn't admit it.

"We had a fight. I made a mistake. I don't care for her anymore, though, don't get that idea." Severus tried to explain himself to her.

"You were friends?"

"She was my best friend. As you can tell, I was rather infatuated with her."

"Oh!"

"Not... not romantically. I just found her interesting. And... she was muggle-born. So we wouldn't have lasted long. Our friendship, I mean."

It was almost as if Severus was opening up to Alice.

"You mean... you wouldn't have stayed friends with her?"

"I would have wanted to. But it was not possible."

"Because of Narcissa?"

"Can we stop?"

"Yes." Alice felt like even more of an intruder when she asked these questions then when she searched Severus' brain. "You want to try again?"

"No... I have a bit of a headache, I think."

"Sure. That was a long one. It's hard to get used to."

"I can tell that."

"Should we leave?" Alice didn't know whether or not to get up.

"No, we don't have to. Actually... could I try?"

"You want to try... I thought we were going to start with Occlumency?"

"I know, but I want to... just to try." Alice supposed it wouldn't do any harm.

"It's not easy."

"I know! But you said... you said you were better at Legilimency, not Occlumency." She couldn't argue there.

"Okay. What you have to do-"

"I have to say_ legilimens_ and envision myself entering your mind."

"Good. Have at." Alice looked at Severus and decided to simply allow him passage into her mind. She did not yet know what she would show him. Severus leaned forward slightly. Alice found herself more than a little uncomfortable, but she allowed to proximity.

"_Legilimens," _Severus whispered intensely. There was a moment where nothing happened, and Alice could tell that Severus thought he had failed, but all of a sudden she was in that room with the television sets again – in full color – and he was gliding around her memories. She could feel him trying to touch them, looking for one he could make his way into. Alice was shocked at his power, and impressed at his success. She was so impressed that she forgot to push him away from certain memories. Suddenly, she was reminded of how close they were. Severus, inches away from her face. He was leaning in more and more every moment he was in her mind, Alice could sense it. Yet she wasn't pulling away.

A slew of old memories came to the forefront. A boy was leaning close to Alice in one. That particular memory grew until it became all she could see. Until she was inside the memory once again, watching herself within it.

The boy was Andrew Stephens. They were fifteen and it was springtime. Alice had been on a date, and Andrew was walking her home. Andrew stopped before they got to her block, which was hidden behind a children's park. It was late afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set. Alice leaned against the posts of a swing-set. Andrew was walking towards her.

"_Well, I guess I'll see you at school."_

"_See you."_

But he kept walking closer. He could not take another step towards her.

The park was empty, but for the two of them. It was reminiscent of Severus' memory in that way. Immediately, Alice realized what was about to happen. She found a moment of trouble pulling away from it, forgetting it, and before the image disappeared she and Andrew were sharing a goodbye kiss.

And then nothing. Her mind was blank, and she could only think of Severus being there. Severus, who had watched her from across the grounds, her waiting for him to come to her. Severus, who apparently thought of her. Who wouldn't hurt her. She remembered what she had seen in his mind, carelessly flipping pages while Narcissa mocked her. Then she was awake, and Severus was staring at her.

Reality had returned once again.

"That was fantastic. You did so well," she told him. Alice hoped he would not mention what he had seen. Apparently that was too much to hope for.

"Who was the boy?"

"That's... none of your business, but Andrew."

"Andrew who?"

"Andrew... it doesn't matter, you don't know him."

"A muggle?"

"Yes."

"Your first kiss?"

Alice paused before answering. "No."

"Your last?"

Alice couldn't help but laugh. Severus waited for an answer. Why was he interested?

"No."

"So, Alice Ashby had a boyfriend."

"Hardly. We only... we should go back." Severus was grinning, obviously proud of his success. Alice didn't know whether he was happier about the Legilimency itself or what he found out with it. Either way, it was time to go.

"Yeah, I think so." Severus stood and began to lead the way out. Alice couldn't tell how she felt at that moment. She got up and followed behind him. He crossed over the threshold to the passageway and turned around. Alice realized that he had turned to help her, and gave him her arm. He helped pull her to the passage and they walked through the dark to where Alice could feel the exit was. But Severus did not open it yet.

"Before we go... you won't tell anyone? Not Narcissa or anyone?"

"When do I ever speak with Narcissa?" Alice was smiling, but it was too dark to tell.

"True." Alice felt Severus approaching her in the slim hallway. She wanted to back away, but she was already against a wall, and she could see to go left or right instead. "I have to reach over you to open the doorway." Alice made a split second decision to move in an angle towards her left. Severus' face ran into her cheek. He did not pull away. He did not open the door.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know where you were," she told him frantically.

He did not respond. She couldn't move her face, otherwise _they_ would be kissing. But he wasn't moving away. Neither could see anything.

"You won't tell Narcissa _anything?"_ She felt his breath on her right ear as he spoke, the vibrations caressing her cheek.

"No."

"You won't tell _anyone?"_

"Of course not." Alice was confused. Then, suddenly, his breathing stopped. Hers stopped simultaneously. There was no sound – possibly for miles around. The world had just become a room of darkness, and Alice was leaning against a wall. Suddenly: movement. She felt a hand on her cheek, turning her head until she knew she was facing Severus. Were either of them breathing she would have felt his breath on her lips. Instead, she felt his lips on hers. He lingered until Alice pulled away, remembering to breath all of a sudden. He immediately pushed his hand past her and pressed another knot inside the tree. The passageway opened and allowed a little of the evening light to make it inside the space. Alice saw the half of Severus' face that was touched by the light, and he looked as shocked as she must have. But not angry. Or even unhappy. Just surprised.

"Tomorrow." Finally, a voice.

"I think so," Alice responded, the topic not really registering yet. Then clarity. "Yes. After class."

"Yes." Severus crawled through the opening and ran across the fields back to the castle. Alice did not watch him run far before closing her eyes and pressing her hand against her mouth. Severus Snape had just kissed her, and she had no idea what it meant. If it meant anything. Alice looked back to the grounds. When she could no longer see Severus, she crawled out of the doorway and began her journey back to the castle. Back to the common room, where all of her friends would be wondering what on Earth she had been doing for the past hour. Or so. How long had they been out there? What would she tell them if she couldn't admit anything?

When she got back to the common room, of course everyone asked where she had been. Alice told them she had been with Severus in the Herbology greenhouse. Remus asked her to him before she went up to the dorm room.

"Can I ask you some questions about Defense tomorrow or something?" Alice nodded.

"Sure." She would agree with anything that night. She made another attempt to get to the girl's dorms, barely hearing Remus saying "Goodnight," to her as she left. Frank lightly touched her arm and she turned to him, a little too quickly.

"I got a letter back from Susan," he told her excitedly. Her breathing slowed. She was happy for him.

"What did she say?"

"See for yourself." He pulled out the letter and handed it to her. "You only have to read the bottom."

It read:

"...so I suppose I'll have to wait until Christmas Break to see you again. I wish it wasn't such a long time away, but I _will _see you soon, and I'd be lying if I said I could wait for it!

See you in two months, Frank.

Love,

Sue."

"That's good," Alice told him.

"That's what I thought. I thought it was good, right?"

"It's... it's definitely good." Frank seemed so thrilled. Alice grinned.

"Well, goodnight."

"Any hot gossip on your part?" he asked her.

"No." Alice answered a little too swiftly. Frank leaned into her.

"I think Remus might have something to ask you-"

"He already did. Homework stuff."

Frank looked a little surprised. "Exactly. So he asked you already?"

"Yeah, he did. Goodnight, Frank."

"Is there something bothering you?" he asked her before she left.

"Of course not," she replied, already turning away. Frank shrugged and rejoined the group's conversation.

Alice would have to become accustomed to lying, it seemed.

--

Author's Notes:

There you go. There's a nice long chapter for you to enjoy. So... how's that for a surprise? Eh? Next chapter will have more to do with other characters, who I have neglected significantly for the past three chapters. Apologies, of course.

Anyways, aren't you so happy for Frank and his girlfriend? Ah, young love. And tell me how you feel about Alice and Severus. Why _did _Severus kiss her? _Is _it a romance?

And what about poor Remus? He keeps trying to talk to Alice, and she's hardly thinking about him. Poor, poor Remus.

Until next time, review!


	12. Boyish Thoughts

Camaraderie

"_You_ chickened out."

Frank and Remus were alone in the boys' dorm room that night, if only for a few minutes. Frank was mocking his werewolf friend about his failed attempt at asking Alice Ashby on a real date. Frank paced around the room while Remus sat on his bed.

"You didn't even _try._"

"I know."

"Homework. Not even _doing _homework. Asking a question about it?"

"I know. I'm a failure. Can we stop?"

"I think not," Frank bullied. "Now, let's go over what we know about Alice."

Remus gave in. "Alright, what do we know?"

"Well first, she is an extremely powerful and intelligent witch, to start. Similar to a friend of mine."

"Oh yeah. Who's this friend?"

"-Second, she has a great interest in potions-"

"Which she shares with Severus Snape, not me-"

"-Finally, she has no prejudice against werewolves. Now, who do we know who is a werewolf?"

"All of your points are valid, and yet she still has no interest in me."

"How do you know that?"

Remus sighed. "I've tried to get her attention all week, and she hasn't paid me any mind. She practically ignores me."

"She was a little busy with me. Thus far, I have surpassed you in the 'Dating Alice Ashby' department."

"Maybe your girlfriend would find that interesting..." Frank laughed, then became slightly more serious.

"Alice doesn't ignore people. She's just... quiet."

"She doesn't ignore Snape."

"Yeah, well, they talk about school stuff. He's her boring friend. And while I don't condone anyone being friendly with a snitch like Snape, I'm sure her interest in him is purely academic." Remus stared at Frank, amazed at his conviction. "Now, we have been working on putting you and Ms. Ashby together since the last full moon, where you envisioned her coming to you and healing your injured form-"

"Jury's still out on the reality of that, remember?"

"Well, it works out either way. Either you're just interested in her, or she's interested in you."

"Or just being nice and helping out a half-breeded buddy. And the first case you mentioned is just unrequited love. That doesn't work out at all."

"... Forget that one, then. All I'm saying is: why wouldn't she go out with you? You're smart, you're a nice guy, you're... decent looking-"

"-Hey!-"

"-From another male's perspective."

"And I'm a werewolf."

"Are you?! Good lord, friends, we're rooming with a _werewolf!"_ James and the other Gryffindor boys had just entered.

"You mean... my trusted ally? A werewolf!? No!" Sirius clung to James in mock horror. Peter chortled.

"Peter, did you know?" James harassed him. "How _could _you not tell us?" Peter crossed his right hand over his heart.

"I swear, I would never lie to you, my fellow full-breeds!" The gang all laughed as Remus remained uncomfortably in his bed.

"So, what were you two really talking about while we were gone?" Sirius asked, taking a seat next to the werewolf in question.

"Oh, women, mostly," Frank told them.

"Oh _yeah?"_ Sirius slung an arm around Remus. "And who does this werewolf have his eye set on?"

Remus shrugged Sirius' arms away. Frank crossed his own arms, waiting for his friend to answer.

"... Alice..." It was barely a whisper, but they all caught it. There was a moment of silence, and then...

Hysterical laughter.

"Our Remus, in love with the new girl!" James mocked him playfully.

"I'm not in love with her!" Remus argued.

"Why aren't you going for it?" Sirius asked him, getting up to move to his own bed.

"I... haven't exactly had the chance yet."

"Well, _go for it!" _James told him supportively.

"In case you hadn't noticed," Peter chimed in, "we are all definitely on the go-side for Remus and Alice."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sirius told him. "You two would make a really cute, _really _nerdy couple."

"But attractive, yes?" Frank asked him, trying to convince Remus further.

"Oh yeah, definitely attractive."

Remus laughed. "Well... thanks for the support. I think."

There was quiet time as all the guys tucked themselves into their bunks. When the lights were out and they were ready to sleep, Remus spoke up:

"You really think she might go out with me?"

"Yes." The boys all said this nearly simultaneously.

"Now go to sleep, you handsome wolf-wizard, you," Sirius joked. Soon all that could be heard from the boys' dorm room was snoring.

--

The seventh year Slytherin boys had a far less boisterous dorm.

"Someone was missing tonight," Evan pointed out as they were tucking into their beds.

"Are you referring to me?" Severus asked, already under the covers, but leaning up for the conversation.

"We were all in the library, expecting to see you there with the Ashby girl," Lin Poddalo, a darker skinned boy told him.

"As it happens, I was with Alice," Severus told them honestly. He was glad that the lights were dimmed, not that he wasn't very good at keeping a neutral face. One of Severus' greatest talents was lying. The others found this suspicious, however.

"Where were you?" Christopher asked.

"On the grounds, as usual."

"Narcissa didn't see you." Evan was always one of the more perceptive Slytherin boys.

"Has she made great point of keeping watch on me?"

"Actually yes. It's a little obsessive," Tim told him.

"Well then, perhaps I should be the one she's marrying, and not Malfoy." Evan laughed.

"Except for the matter of blood, of course."

"Don't try and act all superior, Rosier. Who's the reason you're passing – well, anything."

This was about as close as the group got to fighting. None cared enough to go deeper into those sorts of issues. The Slytherin boys were not a particularly disruptive bunch. That was where the conversation ended. No one prodded Severus for more information about his relationship with Alice. In fact, all they really knew about the two of them was that they studied together, discussed potions and charms and occasionally spent hours at the lake doing these things. If any of them ever found out that Severus had kissed a blood-traitor, despite his own half-bloodedness, it would cause a massive controversy among the Slytherins. Before long they were asleep, except for Severus, who pondered the afternoon's events.

He had kissed Alice. It hadn't been preconceived, he had just done it. He didn't know why. One moment, he was simply trying to leave, and then he got the idea that they might kiss. Did this mean that he liked her? He hadn't given it much thought before, but now he considered the possibilty of actually- no. Of course he didn't have any romantic feelings for Alice. Not that he didn't care about her at all. He first realized it when he watched her from across the field. Before he had left her alone, Severus had only considered Alice a source of information. She knew things about potions and spells that he had never heard before, not from any Professor or any book. He spoke to her as he would to a business partner. But when he watched her - alone, pretending not to be hurt by the abandonment – he felt guilty for putting her in such a position. There had been a day or two where he tried not to look at her at all, to forget about it. Alice obviously had the power to see into his mind, and she had been dishonest about it. She had stolen her way into his memories. Who was to know what she could find out? She could see his family. His relationship with his father. Or worse: she could see his relationship with Lily. Of course he loved Lily, once, but not he had to force himself to forget about her. To pretend they had never been friends. Of course he regretted the end of that friendship, but he had bigger things to worry about. According to his fellow Slytherins, that was.

But still, for some reason, he had begun to like Alice. As less than a partner and more of a... friend. Perhaps Alice was his friend. Every time they met it became easier to converse. He would even find himself opening up to her about certain things. But Alice wasn't just his friend anymore. In fact, after the night's events, it would probably be impossible for them to return to the friendly back-and-forth they had just advanced to.

Which brought up the question: why did Severus kiss her? Was it because, until then, he hadn't taken notice of how soft her voice was? How amused he was by her awkward presence? Was it because when he looked into her memories he entered her mind through big, brown eyes? Is it possible that he was jealous of the boy inside of Alice's memory? Seeing Alice kiss someone was a realization to Severus that Alice was, in fact, a girl. And not an unattractive one, either. Sure, when Severus was in love with Lily – and he only had to admit that to himself – she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Whether he loved Lily or not, Alice hardly compared to her beauty. But Alice was a pretty girl. It seemed that the more he got to know Alice, the prettier she became.

So, when he was touching her face (if only her cheek), he suddenly got the idea that a kiss would not be so far from reality. He could hear her last exhale as it slowly escaped her lips. The silence was deafening as all he could hear was his own mind racing, begging the question of whether or not he should go for it. Before he knew it, his hand was rising towards her cheek. At first he assumed he would only move her to the side so he could reach the knot and let them both out. But when he touched her face there was no stopping him. He made it so they were face to face, and the light from the Shack lit the space enough for him to see a quick glint in her eye. That was enough. Severus leaned in and kissed Alice. She was the one to pull away. At first he was almost offended, until he realized she needed to catch her breath. Immediately he tried to return to an appropriate topic, and left as soon as they agreed on their next meeting time.

What would their next meeting bring? Would they have to... talk about it? He didn't know what he would say to her. He couldn't explain his feelings for Alice to himself, let alone let her know what he was thinking when they kissed.

Only one thing was clear: Alice and Severus were not _just friends. _And the more he thought about it, the more Severus considered the possibilty of a romance between them.

Alice Ashby and Severus Snape. Together? Just maybe.


	13. Not Friends

Camaraderie

It was in Potions class the next day that Alice and Severus first saw each other. They were sitting painfully close to the Gryffindor side of the classroom (an unofficial divide), so Alice did not want to have any sort of conversation about the previous day's encounter. They were making boil cure potion, and once they were sitting Alice immediately began to work on preparing the ingredients, giving Severus no more than a nod. Severus, after a moment, began preparing other ingredients, and the two worked in an uncomfortable silence.

Alice was crushing snake fangs when Severus first spoke to her. "It's going to snow soon," he said, matter-of-factly. The fangs made a more violent cracking sound, an indication that his voice had shocked her a little.

"You mean today, you think?" It had been very cold that morning.

"Hard to tell. Bring a coat, anyway," he whispered. Alice hadn't really thought that they might actually meet again that day. She had even hoped it might blow over. Apparently Severus had other plans.

"Alright."

There was no conversation as they finished adding the ingredients to the potion. Severus pulled on his brewing mitts and took the potion off of the fire, which Alice smited. They added the last bit of porcupine quills and the potion. It was an immensely simple potion, and Severus remembered that he may have brewed it in his first year. In fact, he may have brewed it the previous year. He pulled out his own potion's textbook (they had been using Alice's far less tattered one) and opened it to the page on boil cure potion. Notes had been written in the side column:

"_No improvement the second time around. Someone needs to teach these kids how to brew."_

There was also a note on adding the porcupine quills after the potion was taken off the fire, but that was obvious to Severus. He was about to close the book when he saw Alice eyeing it.

"You write in there often?" she asked. It seemed like a strange question to Severus.

"Just notes to myself," he answered.

"I've seen you writing in it. When you asked me to..." Alice's whisper faded to nothing. No one was even listening.

"It's just a potions book, Alice."

"You were writing a spell."

"I do that, as well."

"Impressive. Well done," Slughorn was standing over their shoulders, placing his spoon into their cauldron. "A perfect example of boil cure potion. You two may go."

The two cleaned up their table and left, having been the first to complete the potion.

"I'll go first, you meet me there, alright?" Severus suggested, having already brought his coat. Alice nodded, but he was gone before she could verbalize her agreement. Alice went to the Gryffindor girl's dorm and searched through her luggage for a winter coat. Finally, she found one, and began to leave. On her way out, though, she ran into Lily.

"Oh! Sorry, Alice!" They had ended up on either wall of the doorway, facing each other.

"Sorry," Alice responded, coat still in hand.

"You're in a rush."

"Not really." Alice immediately tried to slow her breathing to seem less suspicious. Lily eyed her.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere, really."

Lily's eyes narrowed, but she soon shrugged. "See you later, then."

"Yes, later," Alice agreed and then made her way through the castle. Her first step outside was met with rather chilly air, and Alice wished she had worn a sweater under her coat. But soon she was at the Willow, touching the knot and entering the passageway towards the Shack. She realized that they were lucky it was so late in the year, otherwise it wouldn't be dark out so early. Severus was already in his seat when Alice entered their room. She didn't know how long he had been waiting for her, but he didn't have a coat himself.

"You must be freezing," she stated, unaware that she had even spoken.

"Hardly. I love the cold."

"I don't suppose I should be surprised."

"I hear they have a tendency to compare me to a vampire in the Gryffindor dorms." Alice had no response, she merely sat down in her own seat. They found themselves engulfed in the silence. Alice could not recall a more awkward meeting with a boy in a very long time.

"Alice," Severus shocked her with the mention of her name, "I do want to get some work done tonight, if you don't mind. Make this meeting worthwhile of more than just an awkward silence."

"Oh, of course. I'm sorry. I'm just...never mind. Where should-"

"You're just what?"

"Sorry?"

"You were saying something. I'm interested."

Alice was so confused by Severus' behaviour. He seemed so collected.

"I was just thinking. It's not important."

"Maybe I could see what you're thinking?" Severus suggested, leaning in towards her. Alice leaned as far back as she could into her chair.

"I think...I think that is unnecessary at the moment."

"Maybe I already know what you're thinking."

"I think you do. I think we should...talk about Occlumency."

"Of course," Severus agreed, leaning back. Alice tried to find a good place to begin. She considered the science of the art (too confusing), her experiences (too personal) and even the history of Occlumency (too dull), but she couldn't find the proper piece of information to start on. Finally Severus chimed in again. "Maybe we should just go back to the castle." He began to stand.

"No!" Alice said, more shrilly than she had intended to. She stood up, annoyed with herself, and paced towards the bed. "I'm sorry. I'm not myself. I'm very confused right now."

"Why?" Severus remained seated.

"I think you know why!" Alice turned on Severus, slightly angered by his ability to stay so cool within the situation.

"Please, enlighten me." Now Alice was very angered.

"Oh, you are so- you are so-!"

"I'd like to know what I am, thank you," Severus stood.

"I would like to know why you insist upon staying so ignorant to the conflict we have...you have...created...yesterday, when you decided it would be a good idea to- to- oh, I can't even speak right now!"

"Then stop," Severus suggested. Alice took a deep breath in, trying to remember the last time she yelled at someone. But as she exhaled, she noticed that Severus was in very close proximity to her, and before she knew it he had taken hold of her arms and was kissing her once again. This time Alice took a little longer to pull away, but she certainly did so with more passion.

"I don't understand why you are doing this to me!" She yelled at him, sitting on the bed behind her. Severus looked a little neglected.

"I...I can't explain it. If you would like me to stop, I promise I won't do it again."

"I don't want you to stop." Severus took a step backwards, leaning onto the nearest chair. "I mean...not necessarily. I mean..." Alice had trouble looking Severus in the face. "Do you want to kiss me? Is that it?"

"I think I've made that much quite clear."

"I'm sorry...I misspoke...I mean, are you attracted to me? Because I certainly do not see why you would be. As far as I can tell, you're not exactly very fond of me."

Severus could not recall a more challenging girl to decipher. "Yes. I'm attracted to you. Does that upset you?"

"Not...necessarily. This is all very sudden. I'm sorry."

"Alice," Severus began, lightly, "I think that the question here is not whether I'm attracted to you, but whether you feel similarly about me."

"You mean...do I like you?"

"In...childlike terms, yes."

Alice hadn't given this much thought. She supposed she must. She thought of him often, she enjoyed his company, but she hadn't even thought of them as friends before. How could she be attracted to him in...that way. And yet, when he kissed her, it was quite clear how she felt about him. She just hadn't figured it out before.

"I suppose I must be. Yes, I mean. I am."

"Well then, I think our situation is quite clear. You and I are both the most talented in our year, we converse quite successfully, and we are both clearly attracted to one another. It seems only natural that we should begin to be...more than friends."

"But we're not friends, Severus."

He looked shocked by this. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry," Alice couldn't find the words to explain herself. "I don't think we are friends. I mean...I didn't, before. Did you?"

"Well...I suppose not. No. But...perhaps that's because we were already like this. Interested in each other in a different fashion."

And then Alice understood. She and Severus were never friends because they were always more than that. They appreciated each other in a different way from the start. And Severus was right...they did make sense. Their skill sets matched them together almost undeniably. But there was still one large issue.

"You're in Slytherin," she stated.

"You're in Gryffindor."

"I'm sorry. I've never done anything like this."

"You've dated before."

"Yes, but...that's different. Dating and...being with someone are two different things."

"And of course, we have the added challenge of our peers being mortal enemies." Alice giggled at this.

"Yes."

"And yet...I think it's something worth...exploring. Would you agree?"

"You've given this some thought?"

"Very much so." Severus turned the chair he was leaning on and sat in it. "I, for one, could not care less what my peers say about us. I'm far superior to them and they'll never admit it, but they know they won't succeed much without me in their ranks. I'm safe."

Alice would have found his statement more than pretentious if she didn't know it was true. "My peers are...friends. They're my friends."

"Then they should respect your decisions and support you. Or wouldn't they be more like enemies?"

"You're right." Alice was feeling better about the situation already. Lily was her friend, she would accept that Alice had made a choice for herself, even if she didn't agree.

"And we would still practice Occlumency and Legilimency, and continue our search for the perfect Wolfsbane potion."

"I suppose we would just be doing so as...well..."

"Are you willing?"

Alice took in the offer.

"You're asking me to...be with you? Right?"

"Yes."

"Then...yes. Yes, I will."

"Fantastic! Alice, I am so happy."

"So am I, Severus."

Some time passed, the two of them merely grinning at each other. It was the most bizarre beginning to a relationship Alice had ever heard of.

"Well...I suppose we should...go inside then."

"Yes."

Severus stood, leading the way out. The two walked awkwardly through the passageway, and when they reached the door, Severus swiftly kissed Alice on the lips.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked.

"About as sure as you are," Severus responded.

"Should we tell...you know...everyone?"

Severus paused. "Let them figure it out on their own," he decided. Alice liked the idea of that. Before leaving ahead of him, she very quickly reached for his face and kissed him again.

"Goodnight," she whispered, and ran for the castle.

Severus still wasn't sure if he had made the right decision, but he supposed that going with his own gut for once couldn't end too badly. He began his own journey to the castle, loving the cold night air as it began to lightly snow.


End file.
